For most American's, Walmart is just a big box retail store. Some of us avoid it like the plague, others shop there if we must. Under constant scrutiny for
how poorly they pay their workers while the owners are richer than Scrooge McDuck, few people argue that Walmart is amazing. For an increasing number of people, though, it's deadly.
Shelly Frey
Shelly Frey, a single mother, was shot in the neck and killed by an officer in Walmart on December 6, 2012:
In what certainly appears like a case of “not necessary,” 27-year-old Shelly Frey was shot and killed by an off-duty deputy after he suspected the Houston mother of two had shoplifted.
Frey was reportedly perusing the Walmart with friends Tiasa Andrews and Yolanda Craig when Louis Campbell, a 26-year veteran of the force, approached the ladies about shoplifting. The trio then ran off into the parking lot where Campbell followed them. The chase escalated to the point that Frey got into her car to speed away and Campbell followed. Shortly after, he fired, striking Fey in the neck. He claims that he eventually drew his gun because he was “between the car door and the driver’s seat and feared for his safety.”
John Crawford
John Crawford III, a 22-year-old African American, was shot and killed by Officer Sean Williams on August 5, 2014, in a Walmart near Dayton, Ohio. Crawford was holding an unloaded pellet gun he picked off of a shelf and was killed within two seconds of the police making contact with him. On September 24, 2014, a grand jury decided not to indict the officers involved in the shooting.
The family is now suing Walmart and the police department.
William Chapman
On April 22, the Portsmouth, Virginia, Police Department claimed that 18-year-old William Chapman was suspected of shoplifting from a local Walmart. Unarmed, he was shot in the face and killed by an officer with a record so heinous that it is criminal he was ever allowed on the force in the first place.
In a powerful report written by Jon Swaine of The Guardian, it's made abundantly clear that Chapman's mother has not only been stonewalled for answers, the local Walmart actually called the police on her when she came to the store days later to ask exactly what they are claiming her son stole. They wouldn't give her any answers either.
The officer who killed Chapman is Stephen Rankin, who had been suspended from street patrol for nearly three years after he killed another unarmed man.
In a recent video, these four men were harassed by police and eventually arrested for simply walking around Walmart. Toward the end of the video, when one of the men screams "This is racist" at one of the officers, you can hear the officer yelling back, "yeah, it is."
What other cases do you know of where police used excessive, and even lethal force at Walmart? Please share them, with details, in the comments below.