MINNEAPOLIS – A lawsuit against a Minnesota sporting goods store connected to a teen’s suicide years ago is now allowed to go to trial.
Hennepin County Judge Karen Janisch denied a motion from Scheels to dismiss a wrongful death and negligent entrustment suit in the case of Jordan Markie.
The mother of the 19-year-old originally filed the lawsuit against the company.
In 2022, Markie was at a Scheels in Eden Prairie, where employee William Ballantyne handed Markie a gun for sale.
Markie then loaded the gun and shot himself inside the store.
The lawsuit claims the store and staff should not have handed a weapon to Markie based on his erratic behavior and youthful appearance, which the suit says should have been red flags.
Scheels says in a complaint the event was unforeseeable, Markie was legally allowed to have a gun and the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act shields gun dealers from liability under certain conditions.
