STAY ALERT, EVEN AT WALMART: Violent Crime At Walmart Everyday

It’s good to be in condition yellow, or aware of your surroundings everyday.

When you see Walmart’s new logo, the “spark”, you should be thinking “Condition Yellow!” for your time in the store and I’ll tell you why:  There’s a serious violent incident at a Walmart store everyday in America.  And that doesn’t count the constant hum of low-level theft crimes that some complain is all too pervasive at the chain.

Bloomberg Business has a long story.  If you’ve got the time to read it, it’s almost scary.

Here’s a teaser:

It’s not unusual for the department to send a van to transport all the criminals Ross arrests at this Walmart. The call log on the store stretches 126 pages, documenting more than 5,000 trips over the past five years. Last year police were called to the store and three other Tulsa Walmarts just under 2,000 times. By comparison, they were called to the city’s four Target stores about 300 times. Most of the calls to the northeast Supercenter were for shoplifting, but there’s no shortage of more serious crimes, including five armed robberies so far this year, a murder suspect who killed himself with a gunshot to the head in the parking lot last year, and, in 2014, a group of men who got into a parking lot shootout that killed one and seriously injured two others.

Police reports from dozens of stores suggest the number of petty crimes committed on Walmart properties nationwide this year will be in the hundreds of thousands. But people dashing out the door with merchandise is the least troubling part of Walmart’s crime problem. More than 200 violent crimes, including attempted kidnappings and multiple stabbings, shootings, and murders, have occurred at the nation’s 4,500 Walmarts this year, or about one a day, according to an analysis of media reports. Sometimes they’re spectacular enough to get national attention. In June, a SWAT team killed a hostage taker at a Walmart in Amarillo, Texas. In July, three Walmart employees in Florida were charged with manslaughter after a shoplifter they chased and pinned down died of asphyxia. Other crimes are just bizarre. On Aug. 8, police discovered a meth lab inside a 6-foot-high drainage pipe under a Walmart parking lot in Amherst, N.Y.

…Ross likes to joke that the concentration of crime at Walmart makes his job easier. “I’ve got all my bad guys in one place,” he says, flashing a bright smile.

Then there are the high-profile events taking place of late.

In Sunrise, Florida, an African-American CCW holder shot and killed an armed robber that tried to stick him up in the parking lot.

Sunrise, Florida (Local10) – An employee at a Walmart in Sunrise shot and killed a would-be robber early Wednesday in the store parking lot, police said.

The shooting was reported about 3:30 a.m. at the Walmart off North University Drive.

Sunrise police said the employee was sitting in his car in the parking lot when he was approached by an armed man. A verbal confrontation ensued, and the employee, who had a concealed weapons permit, pulled out a gun and shot the man, police said.

In Shawnee, Kansas, one good Samaritan got shot up and a second good Samaritan shot half of a pair of carjackers that attacked a young mother putting her toddler into a car seat.

The Kansas City Star covered it:

Man arrested in Shawnee Wal-Mart attack involving Good Samaritans

A suspect was arrested and charged Tuesday in the Sunday attack at a Shawnee Wal-Mart in which two Good Samaritans intervened.

Shawnee police said 27-year-old Arthur Fred Wyatt III of Overland Park was charged in Johnson County District Court with attempted first-degree murder, attempted aggravated kidnapping and attempted aggravated robbery.

Arthur Fred Wyatt III of Overland Park was charged in Johnson County District Court with attempted first-degree murder, attempted aggravated kidnapping and attempted aggravated robbery.

A 39-year-old Kansas City, Kan., woman who had been shopping at the Wal-Mart at Shawnee Mission Parkway and Maurer Road was attacked in the parking lot about 1:30 p.m. Sunday. Two men approached her while she was putting her child in a safety seat, police said. She was struck in the head.

A Good Samaritan tried to intervene, and one of the attackers shot him. A second Good Samaritan then shot one of the attackers, killing him.

The other attacker escaped on foot.

Now, there’s the story from Fairfield, California of the black male who attacked a handicapped man, dragging him out of his car after the senior citizen asked the attacker’s sister to move her car out of a handicapped parking space.  There is video at the link of the incident.

Caught on camera: Man attacked in Fairfield Walmart parking lot