Jennings was convicted on five counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life without parole. Blankenship was convicted on five counts of second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison.

Once Meyer was stabilized, he was surprised to find out that Marr, the bag boy, was among those killed. He'd thought Marr had left in time. He was amazed to learn Richard Fortson, 32, who ran the front of the store, survived.

Fortson was shot in the back of the head with a weapon Burgoon described as a junk gun — too cheap to be reliable. The bullet “rimmed around his skull,” Burgoon said, and came around the other side. “They do that sometimes.”

Burgoon said Fortson, a diabetic, only lived a few more years. He was eaten up by the shooting. He felt guilty that he didn't let the young bag boy leave earlier.

For a short time, Fortson returned to work at a different location. He thought he saw the gunmen. Police rushed to the scene and found nothing.

'Still tender'

Meyer returned to work after three months of recovery.

“I was young,” he said one day last week at his home in St. Peters. “I didn't want to lose my job.”