Good Lifestyle

Walmart and Kroger are no stranger to problems in the aisles: In Feb. 2022, both retailers were at the center of a major recall for packaged salads that had been linked to the deaths of three different people. Just last month, Walmart and Kroger both announced that they needed to limit baby formula purchases based on a massive ongoing shortage. Now, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) has issued a major warning that impacts shoppers of both Walmart and Kroger. Read on for the latest alert.

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Walmart and Kroger have been the site of a number of criminal incidents. In just the past few weeks, there was a fatal shooting at a Walmart in North Carolina, and a major theft of nearly $2,000 worth of merchandise at a Walmart in Louisiana. At Kroger, a security guard trying to stop thieves at a store in Tennessee was dragged by a vehicle, and a Kroger employee at another store in Tennessee was arrested after firing shots at a customer in the parking lot in the last month.

In 2016, police officers across the U.S. complained about the concentration of crime at Walmart stores, Bloomberg reported. "It's ridiculous—we are talking about the biggest retailer in the world. I may have half my squad there for hours," Robert Rohloff, a 34-year police veteran who worked in Tulsa, Oklahoma told the news outlet. Last year, Rodney McMullen, Kroger's chief executive officer, said heavy organized crime at his company's stores were to blame for higher food prices.

According to data from the FBI, there has been an increase in the trend of active shooter incidents taking place at grocery stores in the last few years, like that of the tragic May 14 shooting in a Buffalo, New York, supermarket, according to data from the FBI. The agency reported that there has been a 100 percent increase in active shooter incidents since 2016, with 40 shootings occurring in the year of 2020 alone. Out of the 40 incidents, 24 happened in places of commerce, such as grocery stores. Between 2000 and 2017, the number of shootings at grocery stores averaged out to be less than one per year, but according to the FBI, there were two such shootings in 2018 and then six in 2020.

"Four shooters were current employees (one shooter was the company owner), and one shooter was a former employee," the FBI said in its report. The active shootings are "certainly a problem that grocery stores are recognizing," Alex Balian, a retail consultant and former grocery owner with decades of experience in the industry, told The Washington Post. "It obviously doesn't happen every week, but they have definitely increased."

When looking closer at places of commerce, officials notice two nationwide companies that appear to be a common target: Walmart and Kroger. One of the largest grocery store shootings in the past few years took place in 2019, when a gunman opened fire on back-to-school shoppers at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, killing 23 people and injuring another 23. That same year, a "disgruntled" former Walmart worker shot at people in a Southaven, Mississippi, store, killing two.

In 2021, there were two mass shootings at Kroger-owned grocery stores, according to The Washington Post.One occurred at a Kroger in a Memphis suburb, where one person was killed and more than a dozen were seriously injured. Ituother took place in Boulder, Colorado, at a King Soopers outlet—which is owned by Kroger—and 10 people were killed.

"Nothing can prepare you for this kind of situation,"Tim Massa, a senior vice president at Kroger, said during a summer 2021 panel on workplace violence organized by a food industry group, per The Washington Post. "So many feelings wash over you—you're fearful, you're angry, you're feeling the pain and importantly, just helplessness."AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB

Despite the continued rise in active shooting incidents at Walmart and Kroger, both retailers have taken action against the problem in the past. According to CNBC, the two companies took a public stance Melawan senjata pada tahun 2019, meminta pembeli untuk tidak secara terbuka membawa senjata di salah satu toko mereka. Kroger dan Walmart mengatakan bahwa bahkan di negara -negara di mana undang -undang "membawa terbuka" memungkinkan mereka untuk melakukannya, pelanggan tidak boleh membawa senjata ke toko mereka kecuali diizinkan oleh petugas penegak hukum.

"Kroger dengan hormat meminta pelanggan tidak lagi secara terbuka membawa senjata api ke toko kami, selain dari petugas penegak hukum yang berwenang,"Jessica Adelman, Wakil presiden kelompok urusan perusahaan Kroger, mengatakan dalam pernyataan yang diemail ke CNBC pada saat itu. "Kami juga bergabung dengan mereka yang mendorong para pemimpin terpilih kami untuk mengesahkan undang -undang yang akan memperkuat pemeriksaan latar belakang dan menghapus senjata dari mereka yang telah ditemukan menimbulkan risiko kekerasan."

Walmart juga melarang penjualan amunisi yang dapat digunakan dalam senapan serbu gaya militer tahun itu, sementara Kroger telah benar-benar keluar dari "bisnis senjata api dan amunisi" setahun sebelumnya pada tahun 2018. "Seperti yang telah kita lihat sebelumnya, peristiwa mengerikan ini terjadi ini terjadi laluSorotan memudar, "Doug McMillon, Kepala eksekutif Walmart, mengatakan dalam pernyataan itu pada saat itu, perThe New York Times. "Kita seharusnya tidak membiarkan hal itu terjadi. Kongres dan administrasi harus bertindak."

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