[2Wycked]

I'm certain this video that went viral earlier this summer (white trash scrapping at a Walmart) got shared, but I couldn't find the thread, so here it is again:

Well, that was in June. Flash forward to now and this particular Walmart is in the news again, with the local mayor fed up with all the crime it attracts:


Gillace Monroe Samples

Quote:

BEECH GROVE, Ind. -- When a man shot himself following an incident at Walmart in Beech Grove, it was the last straw for that town’s mayor. He’s declared the business a public nuisance.

On Thursday morning, 42-year-old Gillace Monroe Samples tried to steal from the store, police said. After being caught by security, Samples waved his gun at employees before running to a nearby restaurant and shooting himself in the head as police closed in.

He was in critical condition at Eskenazi Hospital as of Friday afternoon.

The shooting is the latest in a string of high-profile incidents that have been connected to the troubled Walmart store over the last two months, joining a brawl between two women in the store’s shampoo aisle and a separate act of shoplifting that ended with a crash that killed a 63-year-old woman.

As a public nuisance, Walmart can be assessed fines when officers are needed there.

To Beech Grove Mayor Dennis Buckley, it’s one of the only remaining options.

“We’re better than that, our community is better than that and I don’t want to get a phone call every day saying that somebody pulled a gun at Walmart and has done something out of line,” Buckley said.

Police said Thursday’s incident began around 11 a.m. Samples and another suspect, 42-year-old Johnny Maxey, were caught shoplifting.

Two Walmart employees — one an off-duty Marion County Sheriff's Department deputy working as a security guard and another assisting him — escorted the suspects to the store’s loss prevention office.

That’s when Samples pulled out a handgun before fleeing the store, police said. The deputy, assisted by Beech Grove and Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers, chased Samples.

Witnesses helped the officers track down Samples in the restroom of Egg Roll No. 1, a restaurant located just north of Walmart. Officers were moving in to make an arrest when they heard a gunshot, police said.

Samples was wanted for parole violation and battery by means of a deadly weapon, and for being a serious violent felon in possession of a firearm, police said. The battery and gun possession charges are connected to a shooting reported in Indianapolis on July 29.

Like Buckley, Walmart spokesman Brian Nick expressed frustration with the latest confrontation. He also commended Walmart employees and security for keeping other shoppers safe.

“We’re thankful that our security measures helped identify a dangerous individual who could have caused harm to others in the community,” Nick said.

The aftermath of previous incidents saw police discussing how frequent runs to Walmart have stretched the department’s resources. Between February 2014 and mid-June, Beech Grove police made 1,278 runs to the store resulting in 473 arrests.

Officials from both sides met and eventually implemented a restorative justice program at Walmart.

The voluntary program, Nick said, is designed to reduce the number of police runs to the store. It gives Walmart associates the ability to offer some shoplifters a chance to opt into a program that results in a fine instead of being arrested.

It’s usually targeted at people during first-time offenses when police aren’t necessary, Nick said.

“That is something the store will continue to work on with law enforcement, and something that we’ve seen success with in other parts of the country,” he said.

While he’s pleased with the program’s early results, Buckley said he’s noticed police activity has increased over the last two weeks.

Once the public nuisance designation is finalized, Walmart will be notified and given a 10-day grace period before receiving fines, Buckley said.

Then officers will have the option to issue tickets when they’re called to the store. Each ticket could carry a $2,500 penalty and court fees.

In response to the designation, Nick said Walmart officials will work to keep the store peaceful.

In sum: the mayor wants to start fining Walmart for all the police resources the store and its customers eat up.

However, that isn't the full story, as it seems the local Walmart is able to dodge its property taxes due to an incentive plan drawn up to bring Walmart to the city:

Quote:

But can the mayor blame the store for locals’ dreadful behavior? Is this move a revenue raiser for the town, since the police can slap the local store with $2,500 tickets max?

Or is there another storyline here, that Walmart, with nearly a half a trillion dollars in annual revenue, $482 billion, isn’t doing enough to provide security at its local stores, as customers get assaulted, shoppers brawl, and even killings occur?

The Beech Grove mayor’s move comes as big cities like San Francisco, New York, Boston, and Washington, DC fight Walmart’s continued expansion. The Beech Grove Walmart was the scene of a major brawl between two women in the shampoo aisle that went viral on YouTube.

The Beech Grove Walmart story raises the controversy over what are called “tax increment financing districts.” In these districts carved out to cover the area in which a local Walmart store sits, the store does not have to pay property taxes for about 25 years, in exchange for the economic stimulus a Walmart would bring. Instead, local residents, including mom and pop stores, are left to pick up the slack in property taxes, which pays for things like police, firemen, and garbage pickup. The stores do pay other taxes to the states in which they reside, as well as federal taxes.

Walmart tells FOX Business in an emailed statement: “We certainly don’t want people in our stores for the wrong reasons any more than other businesses do and we have safety and security measures in place to handle accordingly.”

The statement adds: “Walmart has worked closely with local law enforcement officials and directly responded to their requests by both hiring an off-duty police officer to be in the store and implementing a program designed to reduce store calls for police assistance.”

But Dennis Buckley, the mayor of Beech Grove, tells FOX Business: “Walmart is draining our resources, it’s bleeding us. They only pay property taxes into the local taxing district, not back to us in the town. So Walmart is using our cops we pay for, for their security. Walmart has just one off-duty cop in the store, but he’s not there 24/7, he often leaves at noon. They also use our fire department services, too.”

The mayor adds: “We’ve been talking to Walmart for some time now about this problem of lack of security at its store. It’s difficult for us, we only have four to six cops on duty at any given time, but sometimes they all have to go deal with Walmart, putting our residents at risk. It’s frustrating.”

He continued: “Local people here, the vast majority, support Walmart, but they’re concerned about it. I don’t think Walmart does a good enough job of controlling who comes in their store and what they do when they come in their store. They [Walmart] need to send a message they’re not going to put up with this.”

Mayor Buckley says: “The people who are creating these problems are not our residents. They come in from outside the town. It’s a shame, Walmart could really be a good asset. Who knows, an incident is probably going on right now at the Walmart there. It’s got to stop.”

One thing mayor Buckley says Walmart could do is, it “could make the customers it suspects of bad behavior subject to search. They should do what Home Depot and Lowe’s does, and that is check their customers’ bags and check receipts when they’re leaving. They [the Walmart store says] used to do that, but they don’t now.”

Is this right? Charging a business for all the scum it attracts -- people who freely choose to enter the premises?