The mother of a Clearfield County man who was murdered in 2024 has filed a civil rights complaint against the store that allegedly sold the firearm used to kill her son.

In addition, Jodi Lynn Parks of Clearfield County has named as a defendant the company that produced the .22-caliber handgun used to kill her son, Kodey Lee Parks, 33, on Feb. 24, 2024, in Morris Township, Clearfield County.

The lawsuit was filed in Clearfield County Court of Common Pleas in late March, but last week the complaint was moved to the U.S. District Court in Johnstown.

Philadelphia attorneys representing the mother, Robert G. Devine Jr., Benjamin J. Baer and David J. Langsam, contend employees of the firearms store, Rural King, located at 260 Plaza Drive, Clearfield, had a duty to prevent the straw purchase of the gun by Danielle Parks, Kodey’s estranged wife, that occurred the day before Kodey’s murder.

The lawsuit charges that Danielle Parks, after paying for the gun, handed it to her boyfriend, Bryan Michaelis.

Michaelis had a criminal record and was prohibited under Pennsylvania law from purchasing, using, handling or possessing a firearm.

The lawsuit charges that the transfer of the firearm from Danielle Parks to Michaelis took place inside the store and that the gun was in Michaelis’s possession when the couple left the store.

The next day the gun was used to kill Kodey Parks during a custody exchange at the home where Danielle Parks and Michaelis were living.

The couple initially contended that Kodey had attacked them and the shooting occurred in self-defense.

Also, Danielle at first indicated she had shot Kodey, but police in the aftermath concluded that Michaelis was the shooter and that the couple plotted to kill Kodey.

The two were charged with and convicted of first-degree murder and are serving life sentences.

In his closing argument of the Michaelis trial, it was reported that Clearfield County District Attorney Ryan Sayers argued, “This is not a justified killing. It was an execution.”

The mother’s lawsuit contends that Rural King, as the seller of the weapon, had — and has — a duty to prevent “straw purchases” of firearms.

A straw purchase occurs when a person eligible to buy a firearm does so on behalf of someone who is ineligible to possess a weapon — as occurred in this case.

The lawsuit charges: “At all relevant times, the Rural King defendants had a duty to prevent the dangerous and unsafe transfer of a purchased gun, while still inside their stores, to a person prohibited from purchasing … guns including the subject store in Clearfield, Pa.”

RK Holdings of Mattoon, Illinois, did not address the alleged “duty” it had as stated in the lawsuit, only noting that the statement was a conclusion of law that has yet to be decided.

But, in its answer to the lawsuit, the company denies that Michaelis, who was forbidden to possess a firearm, was present during the purchase, and denies he took possession of the gun and exited the store “with the gun in his hands,” as was charged in the complaint.

The lawsuit also charges that Rural King had a duty to conduct “proper and adequate background and/or criminal history checks of individuals both purchasing, and/or handling guns while inside their stores (Rural King has more than 100 stores), including the subject store in Clearfield.”

The lawsuit continued, indicating that Rural King employees had the duty to “pick up on, and intervene on the suspicious activity of (Parks and Michaelis) while inside the store.”

Rural King denied it had such a duty.

The other defendant in the lawsuit is KelTec CNC Industries, a Florida corporation. It manufactured the .22-caliber handgun that was sold by Rural King.

The lawsuit charges that KelTec also had the duty to make sure the sellers of its products maintain adequate policies “protecting against the dangerous and unsafe sale of guns.”

KelTec has yet to answer the Parks lawsuit. It has asked the deadline for its answer be extended until May 26, a request that was granted.

Danielle Parks, 39, is serving her life sentence at the State Correctional Institution Muncy.

Michaelis, 50, is incarcerated in SCI Fayette.

Jodi Parks, as the administratrix of her son’s estate, is asking both compensatory and punitive damages of more than $50,000 on multiple counts.

The victim in the murder, Kodey Lee Parks, was the father of three children.

Rural King moved the case to federal court, noting there are significant “federal questions” involved in the litigation.

U.S. District Judge Stephanie L. Haines will preside over the dispute.