Houston Galleria Sued Over 2025 Parking Garage Shooting That Killed Anthony Sanders

The family of Anthony Sanders has sued Houston's Galleria mall, its ownership group and two security companies, claiming the men who shot Sanders to death in a parking garage last year had already been barred from the property and should never have been allowed back inside.

Sanders, 26, was shot on June 3, 2025, after picking up his fiancée, Selena Patterson, and their young child from the mall. According to the lawsuit, filed in Harris County District Court, a group of men harassed Patterson inside the Galleria. The confrontation followed the family out of the building and ended in the parking garage, where Sanders was shot. He died at a nearby hospital.

The lawsuit names three men in connection with the shooting: Justin Joshua Guzman, Marko Cinan and Nathaniel Ray Alvarez. It also names several Simon Property Group entities, HG Galleria LLC, Allied Universal Security Services and GardaWorld Security Services.

Attorney Muhammad Aziz, who represents Sanders' parents, his fiancée and the couple's son, said the case turns on one fact: mall security had already identified Guzman and his group as a problem and banned them from the property before the shooting happened.

"These individuals were involved in what is these days called rage-baiting activities," Aziz said. "What that means is, you show up at the mall, and you try to pick fights with people. You're a troublemaker."

The lawsuit alleges Guzman and the others were removed from the Galleria on multiple occasions, including the day before Sanders was killed, and that video posted to social media shows security escorting them off the property. Despite that history, the suit claims, the men were able to walk back into the mall on June 3 and start the confrontation that led to the shooting.

"This shooting was completely preventable if they had just followed their own procedure of enforcing the ban," Aziz said. "There has to be some type of system to prevent them coming back onto the property."

The lawsuit accuses the Simon defendants of negligence, premises liability and gross negligence, and makes similar negligence and negligent-undertaking claims against Allied Universal and GardaWorld. It also alleges the Galleria had a documented pattern of violence in the months before Sanders was killed, including multiple aggravated assaults, robberies and other shootings, among them three separate shootings within a three-week span.

The family is seeking more than $1 million in damages, covering lost wages, medical and funeral costs, mental anguish and loss of financial support. Sanders' father, Frank Sanders, said his son's death has left a lasting gap in the family.

"I have a grandson who's going to be growing up without a father, without the financial support that a father has. For what? There's no reason for it," Frank Sanders said.

He said Sanders and Patterson had gotten engaged on Easter and were planning a wedding when the shooting happened.

"This loss has been devastating to our family, and we believe that accountability is essential to ensure justice," Frank Sanders said.

Asked what he thinks would have stopped the shooting, Frank Sanders pointed to the mall's own security operation.

"And so is the answer to that more technology? Yes. More security? Yes. And just keep them out, just enforce the rules, right? Don't allow people to act like a bunch of animals," he said.

A public relations firm representing the Galleria and its parent company did not respond to a request for comment on whether the accused men had in fact been banned from the mall before the shooting.

The lawsuit does not specify a court date, and none of the corporate defendants have filed a public response. Guzman, Cinan and Alvarez face separate criminal proceedings tied to the shooting itself, apart from the family's civil claims against the mall and its security contractors.