Wrongful death lawsuit filed in 2022 Scheels suicide incident

The mother of a 19-year-old man who died by suicide at the Eden Prairie Scheels store in 2022 has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Hennepin County District Court against Scheels and the employee who provided the weapon.

Scheels All Sports Inc. and the employee, William Ballantyne, are named in the suit, filed on behalf of Sarah Van Bogart, the mother of Jordan L. Markie, and seeks damages in excess of $50,000.

Markie, who lived in Edina, rode his bike to Scheels at Eden Prairie Center on Aug. 22, 2022, where he requested to view a handgun. After a Scheels employee handed him the unloaded gun, Markie ran from the gun department on the store’s second floor and shot himself.

The incident was originally reported as an active shooter situation and drew dozens of law enforcement officials to the store before it was determined to be a suicide.

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Details of the incident were not fully disclosed until Eden Prairie police released a report in November 2022. The report resulted in no charges being filed, and the case was closed. Police had previously not identified Markie as the suicide victim. Eden Prairie Local News (EPLN) confirmed his identity in late September through a public data request, social media posts, and by contacting family members.

Lawsuit: Gun provided with no trigger lock

Ballantyne was a sales clerk in the Scheels firearms department on Aug. 22, 2022. The lawsuit alleges that he handed the Taurus G2C 9 mm handgun to Markie without requesting identification or proof of age, “… despite the fact that he was too young to purchase a handgun, appeared much younger than his age, and well below the legal age of 21.”

It also alleges that “Ballantyne delivered the handgun to Jordan without a trigger lock or other disabling device, and with a magazine in place. While the magazine was empty, it was ready to receive ammunition, which was easily accessible to customers and openly available in abundance on the shelves in Scheels’ store.”

Ballantyne is certified as a gun safety instructor by the U.S. Concealed Carry Association, the National Rifle Association, and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the lawsuit said.

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The lawsuit claims that the actions of the store and its employee were negligent and “contrary to industry custom and practice of responsible firearms dealers,” which resulted in Markie’s ability to take the gun, load it, and kill himself.

“As stated in the complaint, Jordan would be alive today had the defendants not given him a handgun that he was too young to purchase,” Alla Lefkowitz, Washington, D.C.-based managing director of affirmative litigation at Everytown Law and Van Bogart’s counsel, said in a press release announcing the lawsuit. “It is well documented that putting time and space between a person in crisis and a firearm can reduce suicidal risk and save lives. Instead, Scheels took less than 30 seconds to place an operable gun in Jordan’s hands. This lawsuit seeks to impose accountability on those whose actions led to Jordan’s tragic death.”

The lawsuit also contends that there have been “numerous incidents” in which individuals have left a Scheels store with a firearm they did not purchase. “Scheels was acutely on notice about the importance of taking great care in the delivery of firearms,” it says.

Scheels, which has 28 locations in the U.S. according to the company’s website, did not immediately respond to EPLN’s requests for comment.