Buffalo Grocery Store Mass Shooting Aftermath & Updates

NRF Issues Response to Buffalo Mass Shooting
National Retail Federation Responds to Act of Domestic Terrorism
The National Retail Federation today issued the following statement from NRF Vice President of Retail Technology and Cybersecurity Christian Beckner regarding the recent act of domestic terrorism in Buffalo, N.Y.

"The NRF loss prevention community has and continues to work with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and state and local law enforcement to share best practices around active shooter preparedness and other retail security risks.

"Our prayers go out to the families and all those who have been victimized by this act of domestic terrorism and racist attack on the Buffalo community.

"Throughout the year, NRF convenes and encourages retailers to collaborate on best practices and customize their own policies, build partnerships with law enforcement, and provide ongoing employee training for safety protocols. On Monday, NRF and many of our retail members participated in a National Partners call with the FBI and DHS to discuss the Buffalo supermarket shooting.

"It goes without saying that the number one priority of retail leaders is the health and the safety of their employees, their customers and the communities they serve." nrf.com

Biden Visits Buffalo Tops Market to Mourn Shooting Victims
President Joe Biden, First Lady visit Jefferson Avenue Tops Market following deadly mass shooting

Biden traveled to Buffalo, New York, on Tuesday to console families of victims of a white gunman who targeted a Black community at a supermarket.

President Joe Biden and the first lady visited Buffalo Tuesday. Their visit comes three days after police say a white gunman went on a racially motivated shooting spree, killing 10 Black people and injuring three others at a grocery store.

"Ten lives cut short in a grocery store, three others wounded by a hateful individual," Biden added. "What happened here is simple and straightforward: Terrorism. Terrorism. Domestic terrorism."

"White supremacy is a poison. It's a poison. It really is. Running through our body politic. It's been allowed to fester right in front of our eyes," Biden said. "The ideology of white supremacy has no place in America. None."

He and first lady Jill Biden visited the Tops market memorial to pay their respects on Tuesday morning, laying flowers. They then met behind closed doors with the families of victims and first responders at a community center. cbsnews.com abcnews.go.com

Two Grocery Mass Shootings Serve as Bookends for Year of Violence
Mass Shootings in Colorado Between Grocery Store Attacks in Boulder, Buffalo
For Coloradans, the May 14 shooting at a Tops grocery store in Buffalo, New York, an attack that killed ten people, immediately brought back memories of the March 22, 2021, assault on a Boulder King Soopers in which ten people died. But plenty of tragedies have occurred in the state between then and now, including at least sixteen mass shootings - an average of more than one per month.

This information is culled from the Gun Violence Archive, which tracks violent episodes involving firearms across the country, including Colorado. GVA identifies a mass shooting as an incident in which at least four people are injured or killed. According to the Gun Violence Archive, Colorado suffered 24 mass shootings between the site's 2013 launch and the summer of 2019. That worked out to four a year.

The pace of Colorado mass shootings over the past year nearly quadruples that number - and because such episodes are so commonplace, few become dominant media stories. Most Coloradans may have a tough time remembering many of them beyond the King Soopers shooting, despite the elevated number of people hurt or slain.

Here are the sixteen mass shootings in Colorado between the grocery store shootings in Boulder and Buffalo, in reverse chronological order, complete with dates, locations, the number of people killed or injured, and links to additional coverage. westword.com

200+ Mass Shooting Year-to-Date
May 2022 has seen 33 mass shootings so far
The United States was rocked by mass shootings over the weekend that claimed at least 11 lives from coast to coast. All in, data show the U.S. has seen 33 mass shootings since the start of this month to May 15.

Fox News Digital reviewed the Gun Violence Archives' data on mass shootings from May 1-15 for the previous five years and found 2021 had the highest number of mass shootings at 37, which is a 12% more compared to 2022.

The database, as of Monday morning, shows that so far in the month of May, there have been 33 mass shootings, including the Laguna Woods church shooting and Buffalo grocery store shooting.

All in, there have been 202 mass shootings based on the Gun Violence Archive's data from Jan. 1 to May 15 this year. That is on par with data from 2021 during the same time period, with 205 mass shootings.

Data reviewed by Fox News Digital show mass shootings for the entirety of 2020 increased by more than 46% compared to 2019, according to the GVA data, with 417 mass shooting events in 2019 to 611 in 2020. news.yahoo.com

DOJ Holds Violent Crime Summit
Justice Department Hosts Violent Crime Summit
The Department of Justice today kicked off a two-day national summit on reducing violence and strengthening communities. The summit convenes more than 500 prosecutors, federal and local law enforcement officials, and community partners working under the auspices of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) and the National Public Safety Partnership, two department-led initiatives that balance enforcement efforts with community engagement.

The Department of Justice is hosting the virtual summit amid increased gun violence affecting communities across the country. A report issued last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the rate of firearm murders rose 35% from 2019 to 2020. Counties with the highest poverty levels had four-and-a-half times the firearm homicide rate as counties with the lowest poverty levels. justice.gov

Editor's Note: Nowhere was America's violent crime epidemic more apparent than in this week's mass shooting attack at a Buffalo supermarket. This summit couldn't be more timely.

   Suspect worked at hometown market in months before attack

   Buffalo shooting suspect wrote of plans 5 months ago, messages show

   NY Gov. Announces $2.8M in funding to help the Buffalo shooting victims

   8-year-old girl hid in cooler during Buffalo mass shooting

   Click here to read yesterday's coverage of the Buffalo shooting fallout


Fighting Crime with Intelligence-Led LP
How Intelligence-Led Loss Prevention Stops Crime While Building Loyalty
The pandemic brought many changes to retail. Some were easily foreseeable once Covid-19 began to spread-such as occupancy limits, masking and shortages in cleaning supplies and hand sanitizer. Others-like the sharp uptick in shoplifting and organized retail crime (ORC)-may have come as more of a surprise. Unsure how else to protect their merchandise, retailers began adding locks, receipt checks and other physical barriers to theft.

However, these measures aren't selectively applied to retail criminals. They create barriers to purchasing for everyday shoppers all the same, which means retailers have traditionally had to choose between reduced theft and reduced sales. But what if they didn't have to choose? Modern loss prevention technologies based on artificial intelligence (AI) and next-generation analytics can give retailers the best of both worlds.

A Proactive Approach To Loss Prevention

Rather than putting barriers between consumers and the items they want, intelligence-led loss prevention systems use the data they collect and analyze to create comprehensive evidence packages that make crime reporting more efficient. These records improve investigations into ORC and shoplifting events by providing law enforcement and retailers' security personnel with information about specific crimes that have already happened. With this information, retailers can create targeted barriers that only increase friction for thieves while streamlining shopping for everyone else.

Building Better Stores With Robust Data

These solutions facilitate better in-store shopping experiences by removing physical theft-prevention methods from the floor. The same technology that collects data about ORC events and perpetrators can help retailers build next-generation loyalty programs based on real-time data, so rewards and discounts are tailored to specific shoppers' habits.

Where To Start

Many retailers are well on their way to integrating intelligence-led loss prevention solutions into their stores-and they may not even realize it. Existing analytics technologies, such as cameras and RFID sensors, form the basis of these systems. All retailers need to do is redirect these technologies toward loss prevention by integrating AI-based analytics capabilities into their in-store monitoring platforms. Doing so can boost store performance, reduce shrink of all kinds and improve customer loyalty in one fell swoop.. forbes.com

Thieves Capitalizing on Baby Formula Shortage
Shortage or no shortage, baby formula has always been hot item for thieves
Baby formula is a hot item for thieves, but not necessarily because of the nationwide shortage. As KMOX News has discovered, it's one of many of items that's easy to sell on the black market.

Formula, over the counter medicines, detergent, razors, contraceptives, and designer goods, are some of the top items year after year for retail theft according to the National Retail Federation.

"It's always in demand," explains Tony Sheppard, Senior Director of Loss Prevention Solutions at Think LP. Sheppard says it's easy to resell, and that's what sophisticated multi-million dollar criminal enterprises want.

When Sheppard first started working in theft prevention, items were often sold on the street. "Back then you would have had to sell it out of your trunk... ...where now you can post it online and you can sell it to anybody, the world is your customer." Sheppard says the thefts are often directed by a seller up the chain. "They'll say, 'I need X, I'm short on fragrances or I'm short on baby formula, or Claritin, I need more of it.' So it's like a shopping list for those individuals to go out and steal."

He points out, these organized retail crime rings can also make a lot more money selling items in those online marketplaces. And he adds, since the pandemic, more people have turned to online shopping for necessities. audacy.com

Several bail reform measures on the table for Ohio lawmakers
There are five different pieces of legislation in the Ohio General Assembly that would make significant changes to the state's laws on bail, which includes a proposed statewide ballot issue.

Chicago mayor sets youth curfew at 10 p.m. after Millennium Park shooting

Study Ranks Best, Worst States to Be a Police Officer

America's Best Retailers of 2022
Wegmans, Publix, Harps make Newsweek's America's Best Retailers list

Supermarkets, mass merchants, pharmacies, convenience stores among 39 retail categories ranked

Wegmans Food Markets, Publix Super Markets and Harps Food Stores garnered the top ratings for supermarkets in Newsweek's 2022 America's Best Retailers list.

Wegmans ranked first in the supermarket category with a score of 92.25, followed in the top five by Publix at 91.67, Harps at 89.62, Sprouts Farmers Market at 88.38 and Whole Foods Market at 87.67, according to this year's Newsweek Best Retailers list. In all, 13 grocery store chains made the list in two categories: supermarkets and discount supermarkets.

Leading the three discount supermarket chains on the Newsweek list was Trader Joe's, with a score of 89.06, followed by 99 Cents Only Stores at 85.95 and Aldi at 84.63.

Big-box grocery retailers also made Newsweek's list in the superstores and warehouse clubs category. They were led by Costco Wholesale with a score of 88.05, Target at 86.55, Sam's Club at 86.31, BJ's Wholesale Club at 85.88 and Meijer at 85.87.

Leading grocers, too, were ranked in the list's pharmacies and drugstores segment. They included Good Neighbor Pharmacy at No. 1 (score of 88.11), Giant Eagle Pharmacy at No. 2 (84.81), Walgreens at No. 3 (84.54), Walmart Pharmacy at No. 4 (84.50), and CVS Pharmacy at No. 5 (83.53).

Wawa came in first in the America's Best Retailers convenience store category, rating at a score of 89.87. Next up were Sheetz at 88.30, Thorntons at 87.47, QuikTip at 86.91 and Pilot Flying J at 84.68. supermarketnews.com

Click here to see the full list of America's Best Retailers of 2022

Retail's Ongoing Union Push
Union votes coming at Atlanta-area Starbucks and Apple stores
Workers at metro Atlanta stores belonging to Starbucks and Apple, two of the world's most powerful brands, will soon vote on whether to join unions, a pair of high-profile showdowns that are likely previews of organizing drives to come.

In a vote overseen by the National Labor Relations Board, workers at a Starbucks store on Howell Mill Road in Atlanta will decide on Friday whether to form a union capable of bargaining for wages, hours and working conditions. A similar vote is slated for June 2 for workers at the Apple store in the Cumberland Mall in Cobb County.

Both drives are connected to national efforts to unionize workers at the two corporate icons. And both campaigns are being aggressively opposed by the companies.

Just 5.8% of the workforce in Georgia is a member of a union, ranking 43rd among the states, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. So far, the organizing action seems to be limited to a small number of places, but activists say the current drives portend a larger trend, and they expect to keep winning. ajc.com

More Businesses Tiptoe into Hot Button Political Issue
Starbucks will pay for travel expenses for workers seeking abortions
Starbucks on Monday announced it will cover travel expenses for U.S. employees seeking abortions and gender-confirmation procedures but who do not have access within 100 miles of their home.

The announcement comes after the leak of a draft opinion from the Supreme Court arguing for overturning its 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, which established a constitutional right to abortion. The draft was obtained earlier this month by Politico.

Sara Kelly, Starbucks acting executive vice president of partner resources, said in a letter Monday that "regardless of where you live or what you believe, partners enrolled in Starbucks healthcare will now be offered reimbursement for eligible travel expenses when accessing abortion or gender-affirming procedures when those services are not available within 100 miles of a partner's home."

Starbucks joins a group of companies that have assured workers they will help pay for travel to seek an abortion or help workers leave states over abortion laws, including Salesforce, Amazon, Microsoft, Tesla and other employers. usatoday.com

Balancing Workplace Safety with Changing Drug Laws
Changing Patterns of Abuse Make It Harder to Stay Drug-Free

Widespread legalization of marijuana muddies the waters for employers.

One of the biggest dilemmas facing employers today is how to maintain a safe workplace while laws and popular attitudes toward psychoactive drugs like marijuana appear to be lining up against them. This is particularly true for employers in industries with a safety-sensitive jobs such as construction, warehousing, transportation and manufacturing.

The complex problem of drugs in the workplace is not going away anytime soon. "Employers should have the right and ability to maintain a substance-free workplace and the use of drug testing, including oral fluid in addition to urine," she argued, noting that NSC supports the ability of employers to ensure safe and healthy workplaces.

"It is important for workers to know that certain employers are required to test for marijuana under federal law," Sample said. "If they use marijuana, they can still lose their jobs."

Along with legalizing medical and recreational marijuana, some states also have passed additional laws to prohibit employers from discriminating against workers who use cannabis off the job-except for those who are restricted by law. Also, debate continues to rage over what is the most appropriate and effective testing method for employers to use. ehstoday.com

NRF Statement on April Retail Sales Data
April Retail Sales Grew With Consumers 'Taking Higher Prices in Stride'
Consumers accustomed to inflation continued to spend in April as retail sales overcame higher prices to show both monthly and year-over-year increases, the National Retail Federation said today.

"April retail sales demonstrate consumer strength and willingness to spend despite persistent inflation, supply chain constraints, market volatility and global unrest," NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. "While consumers are facing higher prices, they are preserving their budgets by shopping smart. Retail businesses are also facing increased costs like higher energy bills and rents as well as the cost for goods, transportation and wages. Despite already tight margins, retailers remain committed to their customers and are doing everything they can to absorb these costs to keep products affordable.

"April's retail sales data is encouraging because it shows consumers are taking higher prices in stride and remain resilient," NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz said. nrf.com

Trader Joe's Workers Are Actually Unhappy and Want a Union

Aussie retailer Cotton On Group to open 17 stores in the U.S.

Google opens second retail store


Quarterly Results

Target Q1 comp's up 3.4%, total revenue up 4%

TJX Companies Q1 Marmaxx comp's up 3%, net sales up 13%
   U.S. comp's up flat, open-only comp's up 17%

The Container Store Q4 retail net sales down 2.6%, online sales down 25%, net sales down 2.9%
The Container Store FY 2021 TCS net sales up 10.8%, online sales down 35.5%, net sales up 10.5%

Lowe's Q1 comp's down 3.8%, total sales down 4%
 

Senior LP & AP Jobs Market

Director, Asset Protection - West job posted for T-Mobile in Redondo Beach, CA
The Director of Asset Protection is a dynamic and strategic position that is primarily responsible for executive-level leadership, establishing the mission/vision, and setting the strategy and direction of the Asset Protection organization. This will include the ongoing development and evolution of the Asset Protection organization and the services it provides. tmobile.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com
 

Baton Rouge, LA: Quebec Man Charged with Offering to Sell More Than 500,000 Stolen Gift Card Account Numbers Over the Internet
A federal grand jury recently returned a six-count indictment charging Richard Verret, age 40, of Quebec, Canada, with unauthorized solicitation of access devices and trafficking counterfeit access devices, the result of a multi-year investigation into Verret's online criminal activity. The indictment was filed under seal in Baton Rouge on March 22, 2022. On April 7, 2022, Verret was arrested at the Orlando International Airport after arriving in the United States from Canada. According to the indictment, Verret, also known as "Luxury187," "Miami24k," and other screen names, operated and controlled several websites, such as the "Lux Giftcards Shop" and "Miami's Gift Card Shop," through which he advertised the sale of gift cards for major restaurant chains, grocery stores, entertainment venues, and other retail business chains (collectively, the "businesses"). Many of the businesses whose gift cards were advertised on Verret's websites had locations across Louisiana.

The indictment further alleges that Verret would obtain, by fraudulent methods and theft, large quantities of valid gift card account numbers. Because the account numbers could be loaded into mobile applications and scanned at store registers, used for online purchases, and/or re-programmed onto blank access devices, Verret and others could access the account balances and spend the funds without ever having actual, physical possession of the original, legitimate gift cards. As of late February 2022, one of the websites offered more than 550,000 gift cards to more than 500 different businesses. The total stored value of all of the fraudulently obtained accounts offered for sale was more than $22 million. justice.gov

El Monte, CA: Nearly $1 million worth of jewelry was stolen from an El Monte store Tuesday afternoon
The smash-and-grab occurred around 1:15 p.m. in the 10900 block of Main Street, according to Jose Nava, the owner of David's Jewelers. About $956,000 in merchandise was taken, Nava said. Video of the incident posted to the David's Jewelers Instagram page shows three men smashing display cases and quickly stealing merchandise. Two employees were also struck with hammers, added Lt. Knight of the El Monte Police Department. The thieves appeared to escape with jewelry despite store workers throwing chairs, a trash can and books at the thieves, then following them outside of the store and continuing to scuffle. The thieves ultimately fled in a Chevrolet Avalanche, and they were last seen on the westbound 10 Freeway, Knight said. ktla.com

West Hartford, CT: Three arrested after armed robbery at West Hartford Home Depot, chase into Hartford
A shoplifting incident at The Home Depot in West Hartford led to a police pursuit on Interstate 84 and resulted in the arrest of three people, officials said. Police said they were called to the store at about 9 a.m. for a report of an active shoplifting incident. Home Depot Loss Prevention employees tried to stop the two thieves but they continued walking away toward a car in the parking lot. Authorities said a brief struggle took place as employees tried to recover a cart with the stolen merchandise. One of the thieves allegedly pulled out a gun and pointed it at the loss prevention employees. The thieves then loaded the merchandise into a black Land Rover with the help of the female driver, and got onto New Park Avenue, police said. Officials found the suspect vehicle and tried to stop it, but the driver engaged officers in pursuit, they said. The car got into I-84 heading towards Hartford. The gun that was displayed during the robbery was thrown from the car and onto the highway during the pursuit. It was later determined that the weapon was a facsimile firearm, according to officials. The suspect vehicle was found in the area of Capen Street and Vine Street in Hartford. The thieves and driver were taken into custody without incident. nbcconnecticut.com

Sanford, FL: $4,000 worth of wire stolen from Sanford Lowe's

Stockton, CA: Over $1,400 worth of snakes stolen from pet store

Green, OH: Two women wanted after stealing over $1,000 worth of items from ACME Market