Luxury Retail Veteran Killed in Outlet Mall Shooting

Riverside, Calif.—Longtime luxury retail executive Michael Moser, who held roles at Harry Winston and Tiffany & Co., was killed in a shooting at a California outlet mall last month, police said. 

According to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, deputies from the Cabazon station responded to a call of an assault with a deadly weapon at the Desert Hills Premium Outlet Stores on the evening of March 24.

When they arrived, deputies were directed to a male, later identified as Moser, 66, suffering from a gunshot wound.

He received medical treatment but eventually died from his injuries, the department said.

According to local news reports, Moser had just returned from a work trip and was on his way home to Palm Springs when he stopped in Cabazon for a coffee and to charge his vehicle when the shooting happened.

No other details about the incident were available at press time and the investigation is ongoing, police said. 

According to Moser’s LinkedIn profile, he was vice president, U.S. retail at Harry Winston from February 2012 through November 2021. 

Prior to that, he worked at Chanel and Montblanc as well as other luxury companies like Vertu, Escada, and Ralph Lauren. 

He also served as a vice president at Tiffany from 1981-1992. 

The Desert Sun reported that Moser recently had started a new job at a luxury men’s accessories business. 

The Sun story did not name Moser’s new company, but Jewelers’ Security Alliance President John J. Kennedy told National Jeweler that JSA is not treating this case as being jewelry related. 

“Supportive, dedicated and really always loved what he did. He had so much passion,” his friend Chris Gialanella is quoted as saying to ABC7 Los Angeles. “He loved luxury goods. He loved working in the jewelry industry.”

Moser grew up in Michigan and attended Eastern Michigan University. 

He met his husband, Michael Rudder, at a philanthropic event in 1989. The two exchanged wedding rings in the summer of 1990 and legally wed in 2014. 

“He was an ideal human being. He would light up a room,” Rudder told The Desert Sun. “He was very kind and very purposeful in his life.” 

In addition to his husband, Moser is survived by a brother and numerous nieces and nephews.