CASPER — The father of a 14-year-old boy who was stabbed and killed at the Eastridge Mall on April 7, 2024, says his son would still be alive if security at the mall and one of its stores hadn’t been so sloppy and ineffective.
That’s what Robert Maher Sr. alleges in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday against the operator of the mall and Target, citing a lack of security in the store where the murder weapon was stolen and the mall corridors and property.
The lawsuit was filed by Casper attorney Ryan Semerad and Jackson-based attorneys Alex Freeburg and Rachel Berkness. It names Ohio-based Kohan Retail Investment Group LLC and Eastridge Mall Realty Holding as defendants in the case.
The mall was bought by Kohan Retail Investment Group in 2021.
“Kohan Retail Investment Group advertises itself as turning aging malls into ‘a place more than shopping,’” the lawsuit states. “At the time it purchased the mall, it had become a hot spot for crime in the area.”
Knowing that, none of the mall’s hallway security cameras were operational on the day two other teens fought with Bobby Maher, one holding him down and the other stabbing him twice, according to the lawsuit.
It Was A Choice
The lawsuit also claims that Kohan Retail uses in-house security and has faced significant “backlash” in U.S. communities where it has investments for “failing to pay taxes, failing to pay utility bills, failing to remedy code violations, and failing to respond to concerned tenants.”
Several stores once inside the Eastridge Mall have closed over the years, and the mall has fewer than half of its retail space occupied, according to the lawsuit.
It also says Target “prioritizes” its shoplifting prevention efforts on high-value items “without dedicating sufficient care to determining whether items could result in harm to others.”
“It is unclear whether the security cameras were ever operational or whether Kohan had allowed them to fall into disrepair,” the suit states. “In effect, these defendants chose to leave a cavernous open space totally unmonitored.”
The only operational cameras were inside local retailers, the lawsuit says.
Both of the teens involved in Bobby Maher’s death have been convicted.
Jarreth Plunkett, the now 16-year-old Casper boy who stabbed Maher outside a mall entrance, was sentenced to life in prison on Friday.
Plunkett’s co-defendant, Dominque Harris, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit second-degree murder in an agreement with prosecutors and awaits sentencing.
Claims Against Target
On April 7, 2024, inside Target, “several young boys” entered the store, sought out a knife display, tried to pull knives out of a block that were secured, and then took knives off a wall display with the packaging and concealed it in their clothing, according to the lawsuit.
They then went to a bathroom to remove the knives from the packaging so as not to alert the store’s electronic shoplifting detection system.
They left the store armed, the suit states.
“At no time did Target security stop the boys or contact local law enforcement to alert them that dangerous weapons had been stolen from their premises,” the lawsuit states.
The group of boys became larger and smaller over the next couple of hours, and the boys “threatened girls” in the food court without security intervention, the lawsuit continues.
Also, no uniformed security responded when two boys put ski masks on inside the mall after Bobby Maher arrived and “tried to draw Bobby to the exit door.”
The mall did not maintain or enforce policies that prevented unaccompanied minors from “loitering inside the mall” or any store at the mall, including Target, on the day the teen was killed, the lawsuit claims.
“No employee of defendant Kohan or Eastridge monitored the safety of the premises properly,” it states. “Defendant Kohan’s and defendant Eastridge’s unreasonable actions and omissions caused the death of Robert Maher, Jr.”
Target breached its duty of “reasonable care” to protect the knives it sold from being taken “in secret,” the lawsuit claims.
Two minors unaccompanied by adults were able to remove the knives from the shelves, and “defendant Target failed to notify law enforcement” or mall security about the items taken, the suit alleges.
Target’s failure to act also led to Maher’s death, the document concludes.
“But for defendant Target’s failure to notify mall security or any other mall employee that the boys had stolen two knives from its store, the boys would not have been able to stab and kill Bobby,” the suit states.
All the defendants involved failed to act “in the ordinary and expected manner of a “reasonable and prudent entity."
‘Willful’ Conduct
Because of the defendants' “negligent and/or reckless, willful, wanton conduct,” the Maher family has suffered the loss of Bobby Maher’s companionship, care, love and more, the lawsuit states.
It seeks damages as a “jury deems fair and just at trial.”
The lawsuit was filed late in the day Tuesday.
Messages left at both the Kohan Retail Investment Group headquarters in New York and Target offices in Minnesota were not responded to by deadline.
In addition to the lawsuit, the Maher family is asking for anyone with information about mall security in the months leading up to Bobby’s death to contact them.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
