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- A Family Dollar customer shot and killed another shopper outside a store in Ohio, Cleveland.com reported.
- The shooter reportedly shot the man for stalling the line. The victim went shopping with his children and girlfriend.
- The attack underscores the trend of violent crimes and robberies happening at dollar stores across the US.
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A Family Dollar shopper shot and killed a man outside of a store location in Ohio, Cleveland.com reported.
The shooter killed the 32-year-old man, who went to the store with his children and girlfriend, after an altercation outside the store, per Cleveland.com. The paper reports that the shooter yelled at the victim for holding up the line.
After the shooting, the victim reportedly ran back into the Family Dollar store while his girlfriend called 911.
The shooting underscores the prevalence of violent crime and robberies that target dollar stores like Family Dollar. ProPublica reported that there had been 50 gun deaths at Family Dollar and Dollar General locations since 2017, attributed in part to dollar stores’ presence in “high-crime neighborhoods.” CNN found that six Dollar General employees have died in store robberies since 2016.
Earlier this summer, a gunman killed two women outside a Family Dollar location in North Carolina.
Dollar Tree also had to reverse its policy on requiring customers to wear masks after reports of shoppers assaulting employees who enforced the rule.
The company has thrived during the coronavirus pandemic due to increased demand for cheap goods. Family Dollar's owner, Dollar Tree, reported that sales went up $5.81 billion since last year. Family Dollar's year-over-year same-store sales increased by 11.6% in August.
Family Dollar and Dollar Tree did not immediately respond to Business Insider's requests for comments.
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