Randy Stair's Weis Markets shooting
Randy Robert Stair (September 17, 1992 - June 8, 2017), better known online as Andrew Blaze, EGSproductions (DeviantArt) and Pioneer Productions/EGSworld (YouTube) was an American artist, YouTuber and founder of Ember's Ghost Squad, a fan club centered around Ember McLain, a character from the 2004 animated series, Danny Phantom. Randy had a big presence on Twitter and Facebook and uploaded videos on YouTube since 2007. Since 2014, he has made several videos and artwork of Ember on DeviantArt, along with Ember's Ghost Squad, his fanmade group of OCs inspired by her, including Andrew Blaze, Rachel Shadows, Sidney Secor, and so on. However, his activity ceased in early June of 2017, when he committed a shooting at a Weis Markets supermarket in Eaton Township, Pennsylvania, and took his own life under the belief of being reborn as a female ghost.
History
Randy Stair had kept detailed videos, recordings, and journals leading up to the shooting, where he expressed his willingness to commit suicide, addressed the personal tragedies and other misfortunes he experienced that led him to a state of depression, described questioning his gender identity, provided detailed explanations of his plans for carrying out the shooting, and explained his belief that these murders would allow him to cross over to an animated world he had imagined. Stair also had a fascination with multiple mass shootings, specifically school shootings (particularly the Columbine High School massacre and its perpetrators, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold). In his writings, Stair even called the Columbine shooters his heroes and wished he could have met them.
From 2007, Randy Stair had a presence on YouTube with his channel Pioneers Productions, which featured short sketches and collaborations that he had done with other content creators. By 2014, however, he announced that he was going in a different direction with his content, citing numerous unfortunate events that had occurred in his life during the previous year, leading to the creation of Ember's Ghost Squad (EGS), a fan-made animated series focused on a fictional organization consisting of original characters based on Ember McLain from Danny Phantom, and his channel was promptly renamed to EGSworld.
In the evening before the shooting, Stair uploaded a final video titled "The Westborough High Massacre". In it, he describes his hatred towards the people involved with the series through an angry prologue, before being followed by an animated sequence depicting him and one of the characters from EGS murdering students at a fictional high school, then ending with montages of previous videos explaining the motives behind the shooting.
The shooting
Randy Stair arrived for his late night shift at Weis Markets (where he worked for 7 years) in Eaton Township on the evening of June 7, 2017, during closing time at approximately 11:00 PM. At 12:10 AM, he sent out links to multiple files and videos which detailed his plans via his Twitter account; these files were labeled "Journal", "Suicide Tapes", and "Digital set".
Stair blocked various exits and then locked the automatic doors at the main entrance to the store. He then pulled out two pistol grip pump-action shotguns that he had concealed in a duffel bag walked around the store and killed three employees: Victoria Brong, Brian Hayes, and Terry Lee Sterling. He then approached another coworker, Kristan Newell, who had not heard the shooting due to her listening to music with headphones on while she was labeling items and stocking shelves near the rear of the store. Stair was seen on CCTV surveillance camera footage standing behind Newell as she worked for about five seconds before he proceeded to the next aisle and fired at a glass and other merchandise in the store, including multiple small portable propane tanks that failed to explode. Around this time, Newell took off her headphones; hearing the gunshots, she hid in the crew room and called 911. After a short time, Stair concluded his shooting of the store's contents, went to the deli section of the store, placed the shotgun in his mouth, and committed suicide. A total of 59 shots had been fired. All of the shotgun rounds fired came from only one of the two shotguns he brought. Stair stated in his fifth "Suicide Tape" that the second shotgun was only for backup in case the first one "breaks down on [him] or jams, and [he has] no way of fixing it".
Aftermath
The shooting did not receive much attention outside of local news outlets, but multiple Pennsylvania public leaders expressed their sadness and condemned the shooter's actions.
The Weis Markets store temporarily closed down in response to the shooting, with one of the store's spokespeople saying "We are deeply saddened by the events of this morning. The safety of our associates, our customers, and the surrounding community is our top priority." The store eventually reopened on July 13th. Becki Hayes, the sister-in-law of victim Brian Hayes, set up a GoFundMe campaign to pay for immediate expenses.
Randy Stair's YouTube account, PioneersProductions along with EGSworld were terminated by YouTube after the incident and his death, but his Twitter and DeviantArt accounts remain open as of this writing. Although Ember's Ghost Squad still has a small fanbase, many users mock and ridicule Randy for his actions to this day. Pan Pizza of RebelTaxi named the Weis Markets shooting the #1 worst cartoon-related news of 2017.
Videos