Washington: A woman in the US state of Michigan has been charged along with her husband and son with killing a security guard who refused her daughter entry to a shop because she was not wearing a face mask, a media report said on Tuesday.
The 43-year-old victim, Calvin Munerlyn, was shot in the back of the head on May 1 at the Family Dollar store in Flint, Michigan, one of the hardest-hit US states by the coronavirus pandemic, said the BBC report.
He was attacked after telling 45-year-old Sharmel Teague’s daughter she could not come into the shop without a state-mandated mask.
Sharmel’s husband, Larry Teague, 44, and son, Ramonyea Bishop, 23, are accused of going to the store shortly afterwards and fatally attacking Munerlyn.
Sharmel Teague has been arrested, but the two other suspects remain at large.
All three face first-degree premeditated murder and firearms charges.
Larry Teague is also charged with violating the governor’s order requiring face coverings inside stores in order to prevent coronavirus transmission.
The daughter has not been charged.
“The death of Calvin Munerlyn is senseless and tragic, and those responsible will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” the BBC quoted prosecutors as saying to the media on Monday.
Michigan’s Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer has ordered all residents in the Midwestern state to wear face coverings when inside business premises.
Stores can refuse service to anyone who does not comply with this rule.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Michigan stood at 43,950, with 4,135 deaths, state officials said.
Last week, hundreds of protesters, some of them armed, converged on the statehouse in Lansing and demanded an end to the Whitmer’s stay-at-home order.
