On May 22, 1996, nineteen year old Ryan Eslinger walked into his local Kmart in Park City, Utah, and walked out with a shotgun and ammunition. The next day, he killed himself with the weapon sold to him by a 17 year old Kmart employee. Eslinger’s family sued Kmart, charging that the company did not ask for proper identification, and should have seen that Ryan was heavily sedated from medication he took to deal with his schizophrenia. According to an account in the Wall Street Journal, a federal jury in Salt Lake City awarded $3 million to Ryan’s family: $1.5 M for compensatory damages, and $1.5 M for punitive damages to the family. Kmart told the Journal it was “disturbed” by the verdict and might appeal. Last June, Kmart announced that it would stop selling handgun ammunition, but Eslinger killed himself with a shotgun.
For more information about guns and violence at big box stores, see the book Slam Dunking Wal-Mart, available by calling toll free 1-877 DUNK WAL.
