A Trap Laid Overnight: The 2017 Weis Markets Shooting

In the early minutes of June 8, 2017, a routine overnight shift at a Weis Markets supermarket in rural Eaton Township, Pennsylvania, turned into a four‑minute massacre. ^[1]
By the time the gunfire stopped, three employees—Victoria Brong, Brian Hayes, and Terry Lee Sterling—were dead, and the gunman, 24‑year‑old clerk Randy Robert Stair, had killed himself inside the store. ^[1]

The attack unfolded just before 1 a.m. at the closed supermarket in the Tunkhannock area, about 150 miles northwest of New York City. ^[1][2][3]
Police later described it in stark terms: a mass murder, a workplace shooting, and a murder–suicide carried out by an employee who had first trapped his co‑workers by blocking the exits. ^[1][2][4]

A Quiet Supermarket, Turned Kill Zone

Stair had arrived for his late‑night shift at approximately 11 p.m. on June 7, 2017. ^[1]
For about an hour and forty minutes, he worked—and quietly transformed the store into a trap. Investigators said he blocked several emergency exits with pallets and other items, spending roughly the first 90 minutes of his shift doing so. ^[1][2]

Sometime after midnight, he barricaded the store entrance, according to later accounts. ^[3]
After closing time, Stair stepped outside, moved his car to physically block one of the emergency exits—a move captured on surveillance—and then returned to the parking lot. ^[1]
From his vehicle, he retrieved a duffel bag concealing two pistol‑grip pump‑action shotguns and carried it back inside. ^[1][2]

Police later said he had brought two pistol‑grip shotguns, specifically 12‑gauge Mossberg 500 pump‑action weapons, but used only one during the attack. ^[4][2][1]
Once back in the store, he re‑entered and locked the door behind him, sealing the last way out. ^[1]

The shooting began just before 1 a.m., between approximately 12:57 a.m. and 1:01 a.m. ^[1]
In that short window, Stair walked through the aisles firing, ultimately discharging 59 rounds—all from a single shotgun. ^[1]
He killed three co‑workers and shot up portions of the store, damaging aisles and counters and even firing at several propane tanks that, by chance, did not explode. ^[1][2]

One employee, night worker Kristan Newell, survived by inches and seconds. ^[3]

The Shooter: A 24‑Year‑Old Clerk with a Double Life Online

At the time of the shooting, Randy Robert Stair was 24 years old. ^[1][4]
He had worked at the Weis Markets supermarket for seven years and lived with his parents and brother in Dallas, Pennsylvania. ^[1]
Online, he was better known under another name: “Andrew Blaze.” ^[1]

Stair had been building an internet persona for nearly a decade. In 2008 he began creating and uploading videos on YouTube under the channel PioneersProductions. ^[1]
By 2014, citing depression, he launched an animated series called Ember’s Ghost Squad (EGS), inspired by Ember McLain, a character from the Nickelodeon cartoon Danny Phantom. ^[1]
He immersed himself in that fictional universe, creating nine Twitter accounts based on EGS characters that conversed with one another in public threads. ^[1]

Behind the cartoon aesthetics ran darker current. Stair was an active user of online forums dedicated to the Columbine High School massacre. ^[1]
In later writings and videos, he talked about his obsession with Ember and about his own gender identity, describing himself as “a female soul trapped in a man's body my whole life.” ^[4]
He said he began cross‑dressing in 2013, dressing as a woman on Wednesday nights when his parents went bowling, and wrote that he secretly wanted a sex‑change operation. ^[4]

A journal entry dated the Monday before the shooting captured the convergence of these themes and his countdown to violence. He wrote, “The girl in me is clawing to get out,” and added, “62 more hours.” ^[4]

Wyoming County District Attorney Jeff Mitchell later described Stair as having “severe mental illness” and called the shooting “really a mental health situation that utterly spiraled out of control.” ^[1][2][4]
Mitchell said he believed Stair had longstanding mental health issues that culminated in the attack. ^[2]
Psychiatrist Matthew A. Berger, speaking more broadly about such cases, said that many young killers who die by suicide, like Stair, are unable to distinguish between fiction and reality. ^[1]
Another commentator, Jeanne Rosencrance, argued that Stair’s perceived lack of recognition from others about his gender dysphoria pushed him toward an idea of revenge. ^[1]

The underlying motive for the killings, however, was never fully established in any single, definitive way. What is clear is that by spring 2017, Stair had begun broadcasting that something catastrophic was coming.

Months of Signals in the Digital Dark

On May 1, 2017, Stair posted a message on Twitter saying he planned to do “something massive” on June 9, to mark the ninth anniversary of his YouTube channel. ^[1]
Ten days later, on May 11, he uploaded a video showcasing a pair of pistol‑grip shotguns he had purchased, which he named “Mackenzie” and “Rachael.” ^[1]
He filmed himself using the guns for target practice and offered viewers a tour of the Weis Markets store where he worked. ^[1]
At one point, a coin flip on camera was used to “decide” whether he would go through with the attack. ^[1]

State police would later conclude that Stair maintained a “significant online presence” where he posted suicidal thoughts and hints of “something massive” without openly revealing his specific plans. ^[1]
Scranton Times‑Tribune writer David Singleton noted that Stair “carefully avoided” spelling out his intentions even as he posted about suicide and teased “something big to come.” ^[1]

On the evening of June 7, only hours before the shooting, Stair uploaded his final video, titled “The Westborough High Massacre/Goodbye.” ^[1]
Around the same time, he posted links to a trove of files on a sharing site—videos, audio recordings, journal entries labeled “Suicide Tapes,” a separate journal, a Word document cataloging his online accounts, and a scanned purple spiral notebook referencing other massacres. ^[1]
State police later summarized that these materials documented his planning and motivations for the attack. ^[1]

One of the central pieces was a 42‑minute film shared on Twitter and other platforms around the time of the killings. ^[4][2]
Investigators believed the Twitter feed that hosted the film belonged to Stair. ^[2]
In that video, he praised Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, kissed and fondled a loaded shotgun on camera, and included an animated sequence of himself and his EGS characters as school shooters. ^[1][2][4]
He had also used earlier online writings and videos to praise the Columbine gunmen. ^[4]

Media outlet Vice later described his assembled files as resembling a press kit deliberately designed to be downloaded and redistributed by news organizations after the attack, and criticized online platforms for not removing his accounts immediately. ^[1]

Shortly before he acted, Stair began saying goodbye directly to people in his orbit. Actress Laura Faverty, who had voiced a character for Ember’s Ghost Squad, said she received an email from him less than an hour before the shooting. ^[1][4]
She described it as starting like a suicide note; he thanked her and told her that by the time she read it he would be dead, then shifted into outlining “the true purpose” of his videos and the motive behind his work. ^[4][1]

In a video message addressed to his parents, Stair said he had thought about death for years and never imagined he would live past his 20s. ^[4]
In the recording, he looked straight into the camera wearing a black beanie and a black T‑shirt. ^[4]
At 12:37 a.m. on June 8—about twenty minutes before the first shots—he texted a suicide note to his mother, who was asleep. ^[1]

His parents later released a brief emailed statement expressing their sorrow. His mother, Lori Ann Stair, wrote: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. We are so sorry for all the pain and loss of life this has caused everyone involved.” ^[4]

The Final Shift

The employees working that night knew Stair as a long‑time co‑worker, not as “Andrew Blaze.” ^[1]
There is no indication they were aware of the violent narrative building in his online life.

Just before the shooting began, survivor Kristan Newell was performing one of the quiet tasks of a closed supermarket: labeling products, headphones on, as she worked. ^[3][4]
She later said she heard what she first thought were “popping” noises, followed by a sound like something heavy falling to the floor. ^[3]

When she looked, she saw assistant tag manager Victoria Brong on the ground and Stair standing at the end of the aisle. ^[3]
In another aisle, she saw 63‑year‑old shop assistant Terry Sterling at the front and watched as Stair came up behind him. ^[1][3]

Police and prosecutors would later say that Stair moved through the store, shooting three co‑workers—Brong, Hayes, and Sterling—as he went. ^[1][2]
Kristan’s account, along with store surveillance and forensic evidence, helped investigators reconstruct those final minutes.

At one point, Stair came face‑to‑face with her.

“For Some Reason, He Spared Me”

According to Kristan, for reasons she does not understand, Stair did not shoot her when he had the chance. ^[3]
The sole survivor later told authorities she saw him shoot one of the victims, then turn and lock eyes with her. ^[4]
Instead of firing, he walked away down the next aisle. ^[4]

Kristan hid inside the store, then made her move. ^[3]
She escaped out of the building and called 911, screaming into the phone to report an active shooter. ^[1][3]
She later said the dispatcher initially struggled to understand her, until a gunshot cracked through the line. ^[3]
The survivor recalled hearing more shots after she made the call. ^[4]

Authorities confirmed that a fourth co‑worker escaped unharmed and contacted police while the attack was underway. ^[2]
As she remained on the line, Stair fatally shot himself inside the supermarket. ^[1][2]
He was dead before law enforcement arrived on scene. ^[4]

The Victims

Three people never made it out of the store that night. ^[1]

Victoria Brong was an assistant tag manager at Weis Markets. ^[1]
Sources differ on her exact age; some reports list her as 25, others as 26. ^[1][4][2]
She was shot multiple times—four times, according to one account—and died at the scene. ^[1]
In later years, co‑worker Kristan honored her with a tattoo incorporating the date of the shooting and an owl, which she said was Victoria’s favorite animal. ^[3]

Brian Hayes, 47, was the store’s night manager and a United States Navy veteran. ^[1]
He lived in Springville, Pennsylvania. ^[4][2]
One source reported that he was shot five times. ^[1]
His sister‑in‑law, Becki Hayes, launched a GoFundMe campaign afterward to help cover the family’s immediate expenses. ^[1]

Terry Lee Sterling, 63, was a shop assistant at Weis. ^[1]
He lived in South Montrose. ^[4][2]
He was reported to have been shot twice. ^[1]

In all, four people died in the incident—three victims and the perpetrator. ^[1]

The Investigation: Inside a Carefully Constructed Suicide Attack

From the beginning, investigators understood they were not only dealing with a workplace mass shooting, but with a perpetrator who had left an extensive paper and digital trail.

Police said Stair had blocked the exits and then started shooting shortly before 1 a.m., confirming the premeditated effort to trap his co‑workers inside. ^[2][4]
They classified the event as a mass shooting and workplace attack in which Stair shot and killed three co‑workers before turning the gun on himself. ^[1][3]

That same day, state police executed a search warrant on his family’s home in the Dallas area. ^[4][1]
Court documents and later summaries show that investigators seized seven boxes of 12‑gauge shotgun ammunition, shooting goggles, ear protectors, a shotgun buttstock, and an owner’s manual. ^[4][1]
They also took two notebooks, drawings and cartoons, external hard drives, a flash drive, a computer, and a camera. ^[4][1]
Recordable discs labeled “Good Bye,” “Interview Spring 2014,” and “EGS Intro” went into evidence, along with multiple unmarked discs. ^[4]

State police later summarized that the search turned up shotgun cartridges and other weapons‑related items, as well as extensive written and recorded material linked to his planning. ^[1]
Prosecutors cautioned that their investigation was only beginning and could take a long time to fully analyze all of Stair’s content. ^[4]

Beyond the physical evidence, investigators and commentators argued over how to interpret the digital archive he left behind. Some saw a mentally ill young man whose grasp on reality had eroded in a self‑created, violent fantasy world. ^[1]
Others focused on his stated gender dysphoria and online glorification of past mass shooters. ^[1][4]

What was beyond dispute was that the attack had been meticulously planned—and that he had intended his writings, videos, and animations to be discovered.

A Town in Mourning, and a Store Reborn

News of the killings spread quickly through Wyoming County. On the evening of June 8, hundreds of people gathered at the Wyoming County Courthouse for a vigil honoring the victims. ^[1]
The gathering brought together community members and clergy—eight pastors were present—to pray and grieve. ^[1]
The Times Leader covered the event under the headline that “hundreds” had come to the courthouse for the shooting vigil. ^[5]

Weis Markets closed the Eaton Township store in the immediate aftermath. ^[1]
The company later announced it would reopen the location on June 14, 2017, after a short closure. ^[1]
The store was remodeled, and on July 13, a re‑opening ceremony marked its formal return to operation. ^[1]

For many employees, including survivor Kristan Newell, returning to work meant confronting the place where their friends had died. Years later, she said she refused to leave the area and still called the store home because she knew and trusted the people there. ^[3]
She said she has a tattoo bearing the date of the shooting, an owl for Victoria, and colors she chose to represent new beginnings and hope. ^[3]

Kristan has spoken publicly about the night of the shooting, saying she shares her story to offer strength and courage to others who might someday face a similar situation. ^[3]
She also said she does not blame Stair, believing that holding on to that emotion would not be healthy for her. ^[3]
Every year on the anniversary, she takes a moment to remember all four co‑workers who died that night. ^[3]

What This Case Left Behind

The Weis Markets shooting stands at the intersection of several fraught issues: workplace safety, online radicalization around previous massacres, gender dysphoria, and untreated or worsening mental illness. ^[1]
Prosecutors and mental health experts have emphasized the role of Stair’s psychological struggles and his blurring of fiction and reality; at the same time, his own digital materials show deliberate admiration for Columbine and other mass killers, and a desire to stage an attack that would be documented and remembered. ^[1][2][4][1]

Despite the hundreds of pages and hours of video he left behind, there is no single line that fully explains why he chose that night, that store, and those co‑workers. ^[1]
What remains clearest are the outcomes: three lives taken, a survivor carrying trauma and resilience, and a community that has had to find ways to remember the victims without amplifying the man who killed them.

In the years since, the Eaton Township Weis Markets has gone back to being a place where people pick up groceries and small talk at the register. ^[1][3]
But for those who were there, and for the families of Victoria Brong, Brian Hayes, and Terry Lee Sterling, every June brings back a closed store, blocked exits, and the sound of gunfire in a place that was never supposed to feel dangerous. ^[3][4]