Homeless man demands $10M for ‘emotional distress’ after being shot while breaking into business

A homeless man who was shot after breaking into an Oregon business to steal property is now demanding $10 million for “emotional distress” after the owner caught him in the act and shot him three times.

Kenneth Voyles filed the lawsuit earlier this year in May against Portland-based Touchstone Granite & Marble Inc. and its owner, James Grant. He is accusing the business owner of battery, assault, negligence, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Grant refutes Voyles claims of assaulting him saying that he only fired shots after the homeless man apparently became aggressive and seemed “ready to attack” him.

“I only shot him when he was standing looking at me ready to come at me and then I just let him go because I just wanted it to be over,” Grant said in an interview with KPTV after the incident.

Voyles is seeking $5 million as compensation and another $5 million in punitive damages, according to KPTV.

Voyles claims he slipped into the closed business early on the morning of March 6, 2023 before grabbing a drill bag, admitting openly in court papers that he was trespassing and intended to walk off with the tool, according to Multnomah County filing.

What began as a break-in quickly descended into total chaos when store owner Grant arrived at the shop.

The lawsuit claims that panicked Voyles apologized on the spot and made a mad dash for the door but Grant unleashed a furious assault, hurling a coffee mug and heavy tiles at him — but Grant says that isn’t true, and that Voyles snatched a pair of bolt cutters at aggressively ran toward the business owner.

People online are outraged by Voyles’ claims as some are even calling it a “frivolous” lawsuit that “should fall under the theft by deception statute.”

“Dude literally admits mid complaint he planned to steal a bag of drill tools. He can’t even stop himself from lying in his legal filings,” another one wrote on a Reddit thread discussing the crime.

In the lawsuit, Voyles alleges that the incident left him with catastrophic, life-altering injuries, including a collapsed lung, severe chest wounds, and shattered bones in his right arm that required extensive vascular repair and multiple emergency surgeries.

The lawsuit alleges that Touchstone is vicariously liable for the near-fatal shooting, accusing the company of failing to implement basic security protocols or properly train its crew on how to deal with after-hours intruders, reported the news outlet.

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