Judgment for grocery store affirmed in fatal shooting

The estate of a woman slain by a gunman in an Elkhart grocery store failed on appeal Thursday to reverse a ruling that the grocery store owed no duty to the woman because the shooting was not reasonably foreseeable.

The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for Martin’s Super Markets defendants in the case, Anthony Rose v. Martin's Super Markets L.L.C., Martin's Super Markets of Elkhart East L.L.C., Martin's Super Markets of Elkhart L.L.C., and Martin's Super Markets Inc., 18A-CT-1654.

The estate of Rachelle Godfread brought a negligence action against the grocery store and its corporate owners after she was shot to death Jan. 15, 2014, by Shawn Blair. Godfread was one of two people Blair shot and killed in 64 seconds as he walked the aisles of the store, according to the record. He also shot and killed store employee Krystal Dikes.

A store employee working security and loss prevention ushered everyone outside the store during the shooting and called 911. Police arrived less than three minutes after Blair fired his first shot, COA Judge Margret Robb wrote, and officers shot him dead within five minutes of his first shot.

Two years later, the estate filed a negligence claim, which asserted that an active shooter was foreseeable, and that Martin’s had a duty to protect Godfread. Martin’s, meanwhile, said the harm that befell Godfread was not foreseeable under the line of cases starting with Goodwin v. Yeakle’s Sports Bar and Grill, Inc., 62 N.E.3d 384, 392 (Ind. 2016).

The COA affirmed the grant of summary judgment to the Martin’s defendants by St. Joseph Superior Judge Steven Hostetler. “Concluding the Store, as a matter of law, did not have a duty to Godfread either before or after the shooting began, we affirm,” Robb wrote.

“Ultimately, it was not reasonably foreseeable for a grocery store to expect death by gunfire to befall a customer and therefore, the Store had no duty to Godfread prior to the shooting. And, because the Store did not have knowledge of Godfread’s injury in time to offer her assistance, the Store had no duty to protect her from exacerbation of her injuries. The trial court appropriately granted summary judgment to the Store,” the panel concluded.