Family Dollar Security Guard Shot To Death After Telling Woman To Wear Mask

Three family members have been charged in the security guard’s murder

A Michigan security guard working at Family Dollar store was shot and killed last Friday after telling a customer she was required to wear a face mask upon entering the store. Calvin Munerlyn died at a Flint hospital this weekend, according to Michigan State Police. Three family members have since been charged in the killing.

Police say the altercation began when Calvin Munerlyn told Ramonyea Travon Bishop that she would need to wear a mask while shopping inside the store with her mother. The daughter then returned to the family’s car and her mother, Sharmel Teague, who was wearing a mask, remained in the store where she was yelling at Munerlyn, even spitting on him at one point.

Prosecutors say Munerlyn then asked a cashier not to serve Teague. Under an executive order from Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, all retail employees and customers have to wear a mask.

According to police surveillance footage, Teague got into her car and drove off, but her vehicle returned to the store parking lot about 20 minutes later. Police say Teague’s husband and son, Larry Teague and Ramonyea Bishop, got out of the SUV, and it was Larry Teague who approached Munerlyn and started yelling at him about “disrespecting the women in his family.”

Bishop then allegedly pulled out a gun and shot Munerlyn in the head. Police officers found Munerlyn bleeding in the store’s doorway.

“From all indications, Mr. Munerlyn was simply doing his job in upholding the Governor’s Executive Order related to the COVID-19 pandemic for the safety of store employees and customers,” Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said in a statement to WJRT.

“This is senseless. Over a mask. Over a mask?” Munerlyn’s cousin, Tina James, tells WJRT. “This is not the way to do things right now. We need to come together.”

“This just can’t be real, my babies need their daddy,” Latryna Sims Munerlyn, his wife, told Flint television station WEYI. “I’m just suffocating. I feel like a knife is in my chest.”

Police are currently looking for Larry Teague and his son, the prosecutor’s office said. Sharmel Teague is in custody and awaiting arraignment. In addition to the murder charge, Bishop and his father also face charges of felony firearm and carrying a concealed weapon, and one charge of a felon in possession of a firearm, one charge of carrying a concealed weapon, and one of violating the governor’s executive order, according to the prosecutor’s office.

The community came together over the weekend and held a candlelight vigil to honor Munerlyn. “He will be sadly missed. He will truly be sadly missed, our parents grew up together and our kids grew up together. This was just senseless over a mask! Over a mask I don’t understand it,” said James. “It’s a truly a devastating loss for our community and he was a gentle giant.”