Lawsuit claims grocery chain Publix illegally sold weapon to teenager accused in fatal stabbing

A new lawsuit alleges that the grocery store chain Publix illegally sold a knife to a 17-year-old who has been accused of stabbing a boy to death during a Florida slumber party.

The family of 13-year-old Jovanni Sierra filed the suit against the supermarket company, claiming it sold the knife to Corey Johnson, then 17. They say that the knife was used by Johnson in the fatal stabbing of Sierra during a March 2018 party in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., WPEC-CBS 12 reported Monday.

Now 19, Johnson has been charged as an adult and faces one count of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon and two counts of attempted first-degree murder with a deadly weapon. 

It is against the law in Florida to sell weapons to people under the age of 18. However, the wrongful death lawsuit claims that Publix’s barcode system did not flag for the cashier to verify the customer’s age when Johnson purchased a 6-inch stainless steel knife.

“When they took this knife and they sold it to a 17-year-old, all the damages that stem from that sale is now the responsibility of Publix,” Brian LaBovick, the attorney representing Sierra’s estate, said. “If Corey Johnson would have been older, they wouldn’t be responsible.”

Footage obtained by the outlet showed Johnson walking into the Publix store to purchase the knife that was later allegedly used in the attack.

“It would be inappropriate for us to comment on pending litigation,” Maria Brous, the director of communications for Publix, told CBS News. 

Sierra was stabbed 42 times while celebrating his 13th birthday at the home of his friend Dane Bancroft, who was also stabbed along with his mother, Elaine Simon.

Johnson reportedly told police that his fascination with terrorist ideologies, ISIS and radical Islam motivated him to commit the stabbings.

He had reportedly been monitored by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force for more than a year after allegedly making a threat against a Catholic high school in England that was deemed “so severe in nature that up to 100 students were removed from the school fearing some kind of attack,” according to reports obtained by CBS News.

Federal officials were reportedly just weeks away from making an arrest in that case.