Family of slain Philly security guard sues Center City Macy's store

More than a year after a security guard was stabbed to death at the Macy’s in Center City, the victim’s family officially filed a lawsuit against the store, arguing their son’s death was foreseeable and preventable.

On Dec. 4, 2023, 27-year-old Eric Harrison was working as a loss prevention security guard inside the Macy’s store on 13^th and Market streets. At the same time, 31-year-old Tyrone Tunnell was inside the store trying to steal hats.

Harrison and another security guard confronted Tunnell who initially left the store. Tunnell then returned about 15 minutes later, searching for Harrison and the other guard while yelling threats. When Tunnell found Harrison, he pulled out a switchblade and stabbed him in the neck. He also stabbed the second guard in the face and arm as he tried to intervene.

Harrison was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead later that morning. The second security guard survived his injuries.

Tunnell hopped on a SEPTA train which traveled to Kensington where he was later arrested and taken into custody. On Dec. 5, 2024, a year after the stabbing, Tunnell pleaded guilty to charges of murder and other related offenses.

His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 13, 2025, according to court documents.

Tunnell had an extensive criminal history prior to the stabbing, including numerous convictions and charges ranging from retail theft to robbery to drug offenses in Philadelphia, Montgomery, Delaware and Bucks counties since 2013.

Family files lawsuit

In January 2024, Harrison’s family announced they were filing a lawsuit against Macy’s as well as the owners of the Center City building where the store was located. Nearly a year later, on Dec. 18, 2024, the family formally filed the civil complaint against Macy’s and other defendants. They made the announcement during a Wednesday afternoon press conference.

The 16-page civil complaint seeks civil accountability for Harrison’s death.

“Employees are still at risk. Shoppers are still at risk,” the family’s attorney, Eric Zajac, said on Wednesday. “The worst days of retail violence won’t be behind us until and unless the culture changes. And so, while Mr. Tunnell’s guilty plea is an important step forward for seeking justice for the passing of Eric Harrison, the civil case continues to be part of his legacy and to bring accountability for his passing.”

During Wednesday's press conference, Harrison’s father, Eric Coates, brought out a medal of honor that Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel gave to Harrison posthumously last week.

“It shows his bravery. It shows that he was a hero,” Coates said. “His legacy still lives. For everything that he did, for what he stood up and went against the guy and tried to help his coworker, it changed a lot of dynamics with the retail laws. They have a retail law bill that was passed that we’re trying to get his name on. He’s a hero.”

Coates claimed that since his son’s death, the family hasn’t received any support from Macy’s.

“Macy’s showed us no support since this incident happened. Didn’t reach out to us at all,” he said. “And in return, everything could have been preventable. This whole incident and this tragedy could’ve been preventable if they didn’t show negligence and just drop the ball on multiple signals and signs that this was going to occur. It took our son to lose his life for them to try and fix anything.”

The family said employees at the store pleaded for increased security measures such as stab-resistant gear prior to Harrison's death. The lawsuit accuses the store and their parent company of failing to act, alleging that they prioritized a "welcoming image over safety."

Harrison’s mother, Dawn Fobbs, also questioned why the store hasn’t placed a public memorial for her son.

“My child died in between a Polo and a Tommy Hill department,” Fobbs said. “And Macy’s hasn’t said anything to me. How is that my son died there? So, every day as people are shopping across the hall, you’re walking through, my son laid there. There’s nothing on the floor. Not even a plaque or anything just to remember that my child died there. He didn’t die at the hospital. He died on there sales floor. And two days later business was back open.”

NBC10 reached out to Macy’s for a statement.

“We remain heartbroken about the tragedy that took place at Macy’s Center City,” spokespeople for the store wrote. “Per our policy on pending litigation, we have no additional comments at this time.”

Cracking down on retail thefts

At the time of Harrison’s death, the Macy’s where he worked had experienced one of the highest levels of retail theft in Philadelphia. While first announcing the lawsuit in January 2024, Zajac cited the retail thefts and overall crime in Center City as factors that led to Harrison’s death.

"People were coming into the store with knives," Zajac said on Wednesday. "They were coming into the store with machetes. They were coming into the store with guns."

In February 2024, two months after Harrison's murder, District Attorney Larry Krasner announced the creation of Philadelphia’s first Organized Retail & House Theft Task Force, which aims to aggressively crack down on fencing operations in which thieves buy or receive stolen goods and resell them.

While announcing the task force, Krasner disputed what he referred to as a “false narrative” regarding how his office had handled retail thefts in the city.

“I do want you to understand there’s been a false narrative out there for some time, repeated and repeated and repeated by certain people that the DA’s Office does not prosecute retail theft below a certain value. That is false. That has always been false That has never been the case," Krasner said at the time. "What the policy actually said was that below a certain dollar value we would prosecute these cases as summaries which we have done. And a summary offense could put you in jail for up to 90 days. It’s actually no joke.”

Krasner said in February that the new policy put in place by the taskforce would not include a particular dollar amount in order to “take that distraction away” in regards to false information.

"We realize that the language has been misrepresented and we don't want there to be any confusion about what the policy is," Krasner said.

As of Dec. 15, there were 21,306 reported retail thefts in the city in 2024, up 21.69% from the same time last year, according to data from Philadelphia police.