Mass shootings and incidents of violence have unfortunately become a norm in the U.S. Since the start of 2022, there has been no week during which violence was not reported. In particular, a trend has been spotted in violence and hate crimes occurring at grocery stores.
According to an NBC News analysis of FBI hate crime data from the last 10 years, more than 160 hate crimes were recorded at grocery stores in 2020, which is 65% more than in 2019 and four times as many as in 2010.
“With regard to 2020, we saw grocery stores were a more common target than they were a decade ago,” said Brian Levin, executive director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino.
Experts attributed the rise to a number of factors, including the pandemic and the last presidential election. Researchers noted that grocery stores were some of the few places where people gathered publicly in the last few years while restaurants, schools, and businesses were closed. They noted this contributed to the rise in grocery stores being a primary location for mass shootings.
“That's one of the few places where people congregated, because they had to,” Levin said. “It was a necessity, even houses of worship were able to adapt via Zoom.”
In addition to people being gathered in grocery stores, researchers also noted that grocery store employees often were left in charge of enforcing mask mandates. This contributed to violence at grocery stores as many individuals who refused to wear masks often resorted to violence. Daily Kos reported several incidents that were captured on camera during which individuals refusing to wear a mask not only attacked but even killed those who asked them to do so.
“It's disturbing, but there has been violence in the workplace as it related to the mask mandate,” Marc Perrone, president of United Food and Commercial Workers, told NBC News. United Food and Commercial Workers is a union representing more than 1.3 million food and retail workers.
“People wore masks that were decorated with hate symbols. We had violence inflicted on some of our members because they were trying to have conversations with people about mask mandates and trying to stay safe during the pandemic,” Perrone added.
The data also found that the number of hate crimes increased after the 2016 election, surpassing the previous high that followed 9/11. Many of the 2016 hate crimes across the country were found to be committed in the name of Donald Trump.
As Trump continued to use his bigotry-infected language, more hate crimes occurred as misconceptions about different ethnicities and communities spread. According to STOP AAPI Hate, the lead organization documenting violence against the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, 1 in 10 hate incidents documented between 2020 to 2021 occurred in grocery stores.
“Incidents that occur in businesses are like incidents that occur on the streets,” Dr. Russell Jeung, Stop AAPI Hate co-founder, told NBC News. “In both cases, people use anti-China rhetoric. So they say things like: ‘You're the reason why we have Covid-19. Go back to China, you c—.’”
The report detailing the connection between grocery stores and violence follows a mass shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo during which 13 people were shot; 10 died as a result. The shooting sparked a conversation on gun control and laws across the country, with many Americans urging Congress to take action.
The Buffalo gunman, a white man identified as Payton Gendron, was charged Wednesday with federal hate crime violations and a federal gun offense. According to The Washington Post, his charges make him eligible for the death penalty.
A state grand jury indicted Gendron on 25 state counts two weeks ago, including domestic terrorism and murder as a hate crime. The charges include 10 counts of hate crimes resulting in death, three counts of hate crimes involving bodily injury and attempt to kill, 10 counts of using a firearm to commit murder during and in retaliation to a crime of violence, and three counts of using and discharging of a firearm during and in retaliation to a crime of violence.
Gendron had targeted the grocery store, Tops Friendly Markets, with the intent to kill Black folks.
An 11-page criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court contained evidence that showed there is probable cause that Gendron shot 11 Black people because of “their actual and perceived race and color.”
"He repeatedly targeted, shot and killed Black people," prosecutors said. "Ballistics evidence recovered at Tops indicated that the gunman fired approximately 60 shots during the attack."
It also noted that Gendron subscribed to racist ideology, including the “great replacement theory.”
“Hate-fueled acts of violence terrorize not only the individuals who were attacked, but also entire communities,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a news conference. “We will be relentless in our efforts to combat hate crimes, to support communities terrorized by them and to hold accountable those who perpetrate them.”