Clerk Indicted in Death of Banned Visitor

June 5, 2021 – A night clerk at a convenience store near Arlington was indicted Thursday on a count of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Cordova man who had been banned from the premises, said Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich.

The clerk, Nicholas Vitatoe, 42, 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 had been banned from the property for allegedly harassing clerks and customers.

Minutes later Vitatoe called the police and told them he had shot someone. 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 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 Division 7 and Criminal Court Division 1.