Lowe's worker allegedly shoots co-worker dead on forklift — confesses to murder in HR email
An unhinged Lowe's employee shot and killed his coworker as he operated a forklift during an overnight shift at the hardware store — then bizarrely fessed up to the murder in an email to human resources.
Christopher Wasnetsky, 36, allegedly unloaded multiple shots at 44-year-old Jeff Moeller while he was working at a Lowe's in Scranton, Pa., around 12:30 a.m. on Saturday, according to a criminal complaint obtained by the Scranton Times-Tribune.
Officers found Moeller — a father of three — was struck twice in the head and once in the back and was in critical condition, the outlet added.
4 Christopher Wasentsky was arrested for killing his coworker during an overnight shift at a Pennsylvania Lowe's.
Scranton Police Department
The responding officers immediately rushed Moeller to Geisinger Community Medical Center, where he later died from his injuries.
Police quickly identified Wasnetsky as the alleged shooter and arrested him at the front entrance of the hardware store.
Wasnetsky told police that he was the one to call in the shooting 911 and brazenly told the operator that he was the 'person that did it,' the outlet reported.
The suspect also said he sent an email to Lowe's management and human resources before committing the shooting, stating what he was going to do and that it could have been avoided if someone had stepped in to address his claims earlier.
Wasnetsky claimed to investigators that Moeller had been harassing him at work and management had done nothing to resolve the ongoing issues despite his filings.
4 The victim was identified as Jeffrey Moeller.
GoFundMe
Wasnetsky told police he had been prepping to carry out the shooting by doing target practice in his backyard with a Springfield 9 mm handgun.
He admitted that he shot Moeller, who was on the forklift, in the chest from about five feet away.
Moeller then fell out of the machine and pleaded with the suspect for help as he struggled on the ground.
4 Wasnetsky claimed to investigators that Moeller had been harassing him at work and management had done nothing to resolve the ongoing issues despite his filings.
Christopher Sadowski
Wasnetsky told investigators he then shot Moeller twice in the head to end his suffering. He also said he planned to kill himself as well, but backed out, the outlet reported.
Wasnetsky was charged with first and third-degree murder and is currently being held on no bail at the Lackawanna County Prison.
He is scheduled to appear in front of a judge for his preliminary hearing on June 30th.
Moeller is remembered as a hardworking husband and father of three daughters, according to a GoFundMe page set up to help the family with funeral costs.
4 Moeller is remembered as a hardworking husband and father of three daughters.
GoFundMe
'If you knew Jeffrey, you knew he had the softest heart & the loudest laugh,' the fundraising page reads.
'He & Keisha had recently reconnected with their faith, and he was planning to be baptized this Father's Day, alongside his daughters. He was so proud to be their dad, everything he did was for his family.'
One of his Lowe's coworkers, Kassie Sierra, told the Scranton Times-Tribune that the father of three was a 'kind man and great friend.'
'(He) worked hard for his wife and daughters, and he always had a smile,' Sierra said.
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Minnesota shooting suspect started as a frustrated idealist, his writings show
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However, in the preceding years, Boelter seemed like a hard worker striving to make his ideas real, and sometimes, struggling to make ends meet. His fervent personality frothed with big, civic-minded ideas on how to "make the world a better place," Kalech said. In the professional relationship they had, Boelter was clearly "idealistic." "I think he sincerely believed in the projects that we worked on, that he was acting for the greater good," Kalech told ABC News. "I certainly never got the impression he saw himself as a savior. He just thought of himself as a smart guy who figured out the solution to problems, and it's not so difficult – so let's just do it. Like a call to action kind of person." Most of those grand-scale projects never came to fruition, and the last time Kalech said he had contact with Boelter was May 2022. 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Or was it like something in his head that he was trying to make? That was never clear to me." Kalech recalled that Boelter chose his firm for the work because they are Jerusalem-based, and he wanted to support Israel. Boelter's interest in religion's impact on society is reflected in a "Revoformation" PowerPoint that Kalech said Boelter gave him, dated September 2017. "I am very concerned that the leadership in the U.S. is slowly turning against Israel because we are losing our Judaic / Christian foundations that was [sic] once very strong," the presentation said. "I believe that if the Christians are united and the people who are leading this Revoformation are a blessing to Israel that it will be good for both Israel and the U.S." Over the years, Boelter would reach out with what appeared to be exponentially ambitious endeavors, Kalech said: "What he wanted to take on, I think, might have been bigger." Boelter wanted to end American hunger, according to another project's PowerPoint. And while the idea would require massive changes to current laws and food regulation, it appeared Boelter dismissed that as surmountable if only elected officials could get on board. "American Hunger isn't a food availability problem," the presentation said. "American Hunger is a tool that has been used to manipulate and control a vast number of American's [sic], with the highest percentage being people of color. This tool can and should be broken now, and failure to do so will be seen as intentional criminal negligence by future generations." "We should be embarrassed as a nation that we let this happen and have not correctly [sic] this injustice 100 years ago," one slide said. One slide how described how his own lived experience informed his idea, referring to him in the third person: "several times in his life Vance Boelter was the first person on the scene of very bad head on car accidents," and that he was able to help "without fear of doing something wrong" because he was "protected" by Good Samaritan law – which could and should be applied to food waste, the slide said. To keep an eye on which lawmakers supported the necessary legislation, "there needs to be a tracking mechanism," the presentation said, where citizens could "see listed every singe [sic] elected official and where they stand on the Law (Food Providers Good Samaritan Law)." "Those few that come out and try to convince people that it is better to destroy food than to give it away free to people, will be quickly seen for who they are. Food Slavers that have profited off the hunger of people for years," the 18-slide, nearly 2,000-word presentation said. "At least in his mind and on paper, he was solving problems," Kalech told ABC News. "He would think about things and then have a euphoric moment and write out a manifesto of, How am I going to solve this? And then bring those thoughts to paper and bring that paper to an action plan and try to implement it." The last project Kalech said Boelter wanted to engage him for was a multifaceted collection of corporations to help start-up and expanding businesses in the Democratic Republic of Congo, all under the umbrella "Red Lion Group." The 14-page, over 6,000-word planning document for the project outlined ideas for what Red Lion Group would offer: ranging widely from "security services" to agricultural and weapons manufacturing sectors, medical supplies, investment services, martial arts, oil and gas and waste management. Red Lion would also serve in media spaces: with "CONGOWOOD" Film Productions "to be what Hollywood is to American movies and what Bollywood is to Indian movies." Boelter was to have a 49% minority ownership of the group, with a business partner owning 51%. "The Africa thing, the Red Lion thing, we didn't really get into it, because it became pretty apparent pretty soon that he just didn't have the funds to go ahead," Kalech said – at least, as far as his web design services were concerned. "He was interested in doing good," Kalech said. "But moderation in all things, and when good becomes extreme, it actually becomes bad," adding that hurting anyone crosses a "red line." "The question one keeps coming back to is – what makes the seesaw tip? Like, he's good, he's good, he's good, he's acting for the greater good, he has all these good ideas, he's trying to engage community, serving on a government committee, he's engaging churches and places of worship, and then something happens, and he goes ballistic," Kalech said. "Who would do that? Someone who's absolutely desperate, just seeing that there's no other choice. That's the only thing I can imagine. But look, obviously someone like this is not operating on the same frequency as we are," Kalech said. "They're blinded by their faith, or their beliefs. And, you know, especially something like murder, it's so ironic, because that's one of the big 10."
Chicago Tribune
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Column: Charles Ponzi's fascinating twist on the American Dream — as played by Sebastian Maniscalco
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Though there were variations of this boondoggle before Ponzi, he was its most colorful and talented practitioner (for a surprisingly short time), a 5-foot, 2-inch tall Italian immigrant of ambitions that eventually turned avaricious. Hosted with considerable charm by Maya Lau, a former Los Angeles Times reporter and podcaster, deeply researched and stylishly written by Matt Hickey and Kevin Hynes, it is directed by Katie Finneran, also from Chicago. This was all new to Maniscalco, who says, 'In my comedy, there's a lot of visualization in the way I tell stories. I can see things in my head. In movies, I'm on a set. I'm in the Copacabana in the 'Irishman,' there's Don Rickles over there on the stage. I don't have to visualize. Everything's right there in front of me. For this I'm alone in a sound booth. I have to use my imagination to create in my mind the Ponzi world, his office, the people around him. And I'm not moving and I like to move.' 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an hour ago
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ICE field director defends agents after ramped-up enforcement, recent arrests of U.S. citizens during protest outside Chicago immigration court
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'It's a hard enough job that they have to worry about who the target is that they're arresting, whether that person might be assaultive or combative,' Olson said. The arrests of U.S. citizens caught immigration advocates by surprise, as pushback against increased immigration enforcement has only grown across the country. On Tuesday, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, a mayoral candidate, was arrested for allegedly 'assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer' at immigration court, according to DHS. The arrest was captured on video that quickly went viral on social media. On Sunday, President Donald Trump sent out a directive to ramp up deportations further in Democrat-run cities. Immigration enforcement has increased at courts and offices in Chicago in recent weeks, with two immigrants from Colombia detained on Father's Day for showing up to their check-in appointments. At a City Hall news conference Tuesday, Mayor Brandon Johnson delivered an implicit warning against Trump's latest threat to crack down on Chicago demonstrators next. 'I think it's important that the president respects the Constitution. If you're asking me if this president is going to work with city leaders, it's clear that he's not interested in doing that,' Johnson told reporters when asked if he's heard from the federal government. Olson said the ICE agents were acting in their rights to arrest the protesters Monday because they are law enforcement officers who are sworn to uphold administrative immigration law, and who can also enforce federal criminal law. He emphasized that agents undergo quarterly training on defensive tactics and firearms operations. Many agents hail from Chicago or the surrounding area, and Olson noted they 'have deep ties to the community.' 'They're trying to ensure public safety of the same communities that they're living in,' he said. The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois decried ICE's arrest of U.S. citizens. 'The presence of unidentified, federal officers conducting arrests and detentions — while heavily armed — undermines the public's ability to ensure that law enforcement is acting in a legal and constitutional fashion and runs the risk of further violence,' Ed Yonhka, ACLU's director of communications and public policy, said in a statement. On Monday around 9 a.m., about a dozen protesters stood outside immigration court at 55 E. Monroe St., according to Bianca Paiz, who was on her way to work. ICE agents entering the building, then started to take the three individuals into custody, Paiz recounted. The immigration agents wore masks and didn't identify themselves, she said. Paiz said the protesters did not resist arrest, and that the agents handcuffed them before forcing them into an unmarked vehicle. As someone who has participated in civil disobedience, she called the arrests 'alarming.' ICE transported the protesters to a different federal building on West Ida B. Wells Drive in the Loop. Two of the individuals were released about three hours later, according to protesters. The third protester was released from the building around 5 p.m. after worried family members alerted local officials about the a statement, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said ICE officers 'are facing a 413% increase in assaults against them.''ICE and our federal law enforcement partners will continue to enforce the law,' she said. 'And if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.'While the last protester was detained, family members waited outside the federal court building in the Loop for hours. Their calls weren't going through, and they weren't sure if ICE had provided legal assistance. They declined to share their names until they had spoken to an attorney. Later that afternoon, two members of Mayor Johnson's staff arrived to offer support. At one point, the protester's family attempted to speak with the security guards inside the building, but they were told to leave. As the day wore on, they stood on the sidewalk outside, waiting for news. After the protester came out of the building, they cried and hugged. The protester declined to comment further about the arrest. ICE's Chicago field office director, Olson, said Tuesday that agents do not intend to arrest U.S. citizens. He declined to speculate on future enforcement actions, such as sending the National Guard to Chicago to assist with immigration enforcement. Over the course of the 20-minute interview, he defended agents who wore masks during immigration enforcement actions, saying some fear for their safety and the safety of their families, and went over the enforcement removal operations he oversees in the Chicago region. The ICE field office covers Wisconsin, Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri and Kansas. 'There's a lot of hate being spewed at my officers,' Olson said. 'It's a little frustrating.' A 20-year ICE veteran, Olson said he's never seen so much public doubt about the agency's legitimacy. He emphasized that officers receive extensive training — including basic Spanish courses — and said certified interpreters are available to explain individuals' of misconduct are handled by ICE's Office of Professional Responsibility and may be escalated to the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General, he said his office oversees a 'multitude of targets' across several states, with a focus on detaining individuals who pose safety risks or have final deportation orders. He emphasized that immigration detention is not punitive but meant to ensure court appearances, noting that detention space is limited and costly. ICE also coordinates with the Department of Justice and Citizenship and Immigration Services.'When we're out there, some of the stuff that we're doing is oversimplified, and there's a lot more nuance to it,' he said. 'And there's just a lot bigger things going on in the background.'Chicago Tribune's Alice Yin and Caroline Kubzansky contributed.
