DETROIT — On Thursday, a gas station clerk who locked the gas station store door during a dispute with an armed customer over a small purchase was charged with involuntary manslaughter after the uproar led to the fatal shooting of another man.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy filed the charge against Al-Hassan Aiyash, 22, of Hamtramck, in connection with the fatal May 6 shooting of Gregory Kelly, 37, of Detroit, who also was inside the gas station at the time of the incident.

The three innocent men repeatedly pleaded with clerk to unlock the door and let them out

Kelly and two other men inside the gas station repeatedly pleaded with Aiyash to unlock the door and let them out, Worthy said.

“On May 6, 2023, sometime after 3 a.m., it is alleged that Samuel Anthony McCray attempted to make a purchase inside of the gas station store located in the 12800 block of West McNichols,” Worthy said. “When the purchase of under $4 was declined McCray attempted to leave with unpurchased items. Aiyash is alleged to have locked the store with McCray, Mr. Kelly, a 60-year-old man and a 37-year-old man, all (residents) of Detroit, inside. The three innocent men repeatedly pleaded with Aiyash to unlock the door and let them out.”

Aiyash pushed a security button to unlock the door, but didn’t tell the men seconds before the shooting began, Worthy said.

“The allegations of the defendant locking the door of the store and not heeding the pleas of the men to be released led to tragic consequences in this case,” Worthy said in a news release.

Aiyash was arrested Thursday by the Detroit Police Department and was expected to be arraigned Friday morning, Worthy said.

It wasn’t clear whether Aiyash has an attorney who could comment on the allegations against him.

The man who allegedly shot Kelly, 27-year-old Samuel Anthony McCray, has been charged with first-degree murder, two counts of assault with intent to murder and three counts of felony firearm and felon in possession of a firearm. He was arraigned and remanded to jail in the 36th District Court. The Probable Cause Conference is scheduled for May 23 at 8:30 a.m., and the Preliminary Examination is scheduled for May 30 at 1:45 p.m., before Judge Kenneth King.

McCray threatened to shoot everyone inside the gas station unless the door was unlocked, according to witness David Langston.

Langston told WJBK-TV that he begged McCray, “‘Please, man, don’t shoot us. We don’t got nothing to do with this.’ … And he started shooting.”

Langston and a 60-year-old man were wounded.