A Maryland jury handed down a multi-million dollar judgment against Walmart this week, finding that the company was negligent in selling a shotgun to an employee who took his life with the firearm a few hours later.
The family of 23-year-old Jacob Mace filed their lawsuit against Walmart in 2021, about two years after Mace's death. The complaint alleged that the retailer violated Maryland gun laws and company policy by selling the arm after store management had been made aware of his mental health struggles, though it appears that the verdict was silent on whether or not any laws were actually broken.
Instead, the plaintiffs argued that Walmart’s store managers acted as “corporate agents” of the company, and if they knew he was suicidal, the entire corporation was aware as well.
In closing arguments Wednesday, an attorney who represented the family, Anatoly Smolkin, bored in on a conversation inside the store on Nov. 9, 2019, six days before Mace’s death.
Mace was not working that day and sent two troubling text messages to a co-worker, Christina O’Shea.
“I feel broken,” the first text began. Mace said he’d been suicidal all week. “Nothing helps. I just want it to end. Goodbye.”
In the second text, Mace spoke more specifically about what he intended to do: “Slit wrists. Buy a gun.”
O’Shea testified that she spoke to the assistant manager, Brennan Jones, which Jones confirmed in his testimony. Exactly what was said remained in dispute.
But Jones confirmed that O’Shea told him she was concerned that Mace was suicidal and she was afraid he was going to hurt himself. Jones also confirmed that O’Shea asked whether there was some kind of blacklist Mace could be placed on that would prevent the store from selling him a gun.
Jones did take action after the conversation. He asked for the police to be called. He checked to see if there was such a list, but was told there was not. And when Mace returned to work later, Jones made sure he knew about the company’s counseling services and asked him how he was doing.
“I was just having a bad day, but everything’s fine,” Mace told him, according to Jones’s testimony.
“Okay,” Jones recalled telling Mace. “You know, we were worried about you.”
Mace did not tell Jones that the day before, while off-duty, he had messaged a co-worker at Walmart who sold firearms.
“Does Walmart sell single shot shotguns?” he wrote.
“Yes,” he was told.
Eric McLaughlin, the firearm salesman known in the store as the “gun guy,” testified that he had no idea of Mace’s mental health struggles, which was confirmed by the Mace family’s attorneys.
On the morning of his death, Mace purchased a shotgun and box of ammunition, telling McLaughlin that the gun was going to be a present for his wife. The plaintiffs' attorneys argued that Brennan Jones should have alerted other store managers to the conversation between O'Shea and himself, and if that had been done then its likely the sale wouldn't have taken place.
‘They didn’t even do the easiest and the most basic thing they could have done,” Smolkin told jurors. “They didn’t tell Eric McLaughlin, the gun guy, the department manager responsible for selling firearms, that Walmart shouldn’t sell a gun to Jake Mace.”
I feel for Mace's family. Losing a loved one to suicide is a horrific experience, and anyone who's ever gone through that understandably looks back and wonders if anything could have been done to keep their loved one safe from harm. At the same time, Mace had told his supervisor that he was fine, and this was essentially a "he said/she said" scenario with a co-worker expressing her concern to management and Mace tellling management he was okay.
What if Mace had purchased rat poison or a sharp carving knife instead of a shotgun? Would Walmart still be negligent if he used another item to take his life? What if management had told McLaughlin not to sell a gun to Mace, and Mace turned around and sued the company for telling his coworkers that he was mentally unstable?
Mace lied to his boss. He lied to the employee who sold him the gun. He passed a background check and was legally able to take possession of the shotgun in question. His death is a tragedy, and I'm sure his family feels his absence every day. I'm just not convinced that Walmart should be held responsible in any way for his actions, and I hope the company appeals the jury's decision.
If you're struggling, please know that there is help available and you don't have to go through this alone. If you don't feel like you can talk to family or friends, call 988 or visit 988lifeline.org.
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