Store owners turned to vigilante justice in Buffalo, New York, to defend their shops from “rampant” looting. They were forced into do-it-yourself security when “the blizzard of the century” struck on Christmas Eve. As conditions descended into chaos, retailers opened fire.
Buffalo in chaos
Folks in and around Buffalo, New York, are calling it the “blizzard of the century.” Heartbreaking tales are being reported, including one of a “dad-to-be,” who’s body was found frozen. He “went out to get supplies for his nine-month pregnant wife,” and didn’t return. So far, 31 people were reported killed. Opportunists took full advantage of the whiteout conditions.
The word spread quickly on social media and turned into “looting across the city.” With police paralyzed, store owners, Daily Mail relates, were left to “fend for themselves.” One group of “Arab store owners” did it right.
Videos are all over social media, showing “brazen thieves taking advantage of the mess.” Buffalo Police Department managed to catch eight of them.
Video of shots fired while looting takes place in Buffalo. #buffaloblizzard #Buffalo #BuffaloBlizzard2022 #looting #loot #blizzard #blizzard2022 #gunfight @GovKathyHochul pic.twitter.com/hO2bCQkAtd
— Blue Line Defense LLC (@BLDefense22) December 26, 2022
That doesn’t mean they stopped looking. The department “shared a series of videos of the ransacked stores throughout the city.” Meanwhile, “clips have also emerged of store owners taking on the looters themselves.”
One of the videos comes from a camera outside the Sky’s The Limit hair salon on Bailey Avenue. The social media post warns that the Arab small business community in Buffalo “had taken up arms against looters as the group is seen confronting a suspect in the streets.”
They chased a would-be thief “down the snow-covered driveway of the salon, with panicked screams heard in the background as one of the men opens fire at the fleeing suspect.”
The aftermath of mass looting today in Buffalo, NY following a storm: pic.twitter.com/sJPVOYgtj9
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) December 26, 2022
Looters were warned
Looters had been warned ahead of time that “store owners in Buffalo had taken up arms to protect their businesses.” The city “has been likened to a war zone, with struggling emergency crews expecting the death toll to rise further.”
Since police are forced to prioritize calls, the chaos “has only been exasperated by the spike in looting as thieves trudged over mounds of snow to get into abandoned storefronts.”
Dollar General was a huge target. Shelves “were overturned and items were scattered across the ground.” In 2023, the Buffalo branch of the shop will be named Three Dollar General.
This man telling #Buffalo looters to "put the shit back" is the hero we didn't know we needed #BuffaloBlizzard #BuffaloLooting #BuffaloBlizzard2022 pic.twitter.com/rXidwNuGER
— Cameron Gray (@Cameron_Gray) December 27, 2022
“Residents filmed some of the thieves as they entered the store and left with handfuls of items like paper towels and toilet paper.”
Facebook Live will censor anything remotely conservative leaning but beamed out globally the video “one shameless woman” posted “of her and her friends grabbing items from the store.” Others were captured on video “hauling away televisions.” One looter went unicorn hunting at the liquor store.
After breaking the glass door, he made off with “$500 worth of goods.” Andre Brown at the Fasttrac convenience store noted that looters in Buffalo weren’t out scavenging emergency supplies, like food or medicine. “So these people aren’t people in distress — these are people that are taking advantage of a natural disaster and the suffering of many in our community to take what they want from retailers.“
