Store clerk indicted for shooting

A night clerk at a convenience store in Cordova was indicted last Thursday on one count of second-degree murder in the shooting death of man who was previously banned from the premises.
The 42-year-old clerk, Nicholas Vitatoe, is free on his own recognizance.
An investigation showed that around 1:30 a.m. on May 19, 2020, a confrontation occurred between Vitatoe and Marvel Locke, 58, a Cordova man who was banned from the property for allegedly harassing clerks and customers.
The incident happened at the Circle K gas station where Vitatoe is employed.
At 1:27 a.m., Vitatoe called police to report that Locke was on the property. Vitatoe told Locke to leave while on the phone with dispatchers. Locke allegedly refused to leave the parking lot.
Minutes later, Vitatoe was reportedly heard on camera saying he wasn’t going to wait for police and he was going to take care of the problem himself.
When officers arrived, they found Locke on the pavement in front of the store with a gunshot wound to the head.
Vitatoe told officers his gun was on the counter inside of the store.
Locke was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The case is being handled by Chief Prosecutor Theresa McCusker of the District Attorney’s Vertical Team 1, which prosecutes cases in General Sessions Div. 7 and in Criminal Court Div. 1.
According to records, Locke was arrested in Sept. 2018 and charged with indecent exposure, disorderly conduct, public intoxication and obstructing a highway or passageway.