Tuesday night’s violent outburst at a tiny grocery shop in Montgomery, Alabama, claimed three lives. The victims were the victims of a run of robberies that targeted Latino-owned businesses in the state’s capital.
A community intervention program worth $6 million was proposed by the city’s mayor to city council members in an effort to reduce crime in Montgomery, and hours after, there was a shooting at Tienda Los Hermanos, a grocery store located on the southern part of the city.
“People working their jobs in their community, trying to make it day-to-day, week-to-week should not be preyed upon. And that’s what we had last night,” Mayor Steven Reed stated on wednesday.
In order to identify the perpetrator and others who have been “targeting Latino, Hispanic businesses all across this community,” Reed stated that the city will employ all of its resources.
Police Officers were called to a complaint of shooting just before nine o’clock on Tuesday night, according to Maj. Saba Coleman. There were two deceased at the spot. After being brought to a hospital, a third individual was declared deceased.
Romero Lopez, 43, Daniel Lopez, 20, and George Elijah Jr., 50, were the casualties, according to acting chief of police for Montgomery, John Hall. According to Reed, the third victim was there “just to do a little shopping” and socialize with store staff, while the other two victims were family members.
According to Hall, authorities are looking into whether the shooting and previous incidents that targeted Latino-owned companies are related.
Maribel Lopez, who claimed to be the company’s owner, told that her brother and nephew were among the deceased.
“I’m unable to think about anything at this time,” she stated. She claimed that there had previously been at least six robberies or burglaries at the establishment.
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“We need to speak up,” Lopez stated. “Everybody needs to speak up, and they need to let the city know that we’re here and we need to take care of each other, and we need to get their attention so that they can start working on it.”
As a memorial on Wednesday, bouquets of flowers and candles were placed outside the grocery store.
The area’s city councilman, Oronde Mitchell, stated that the gunshot occurred during a robbery at the store. Mitchell stated that local Hispanic-owned companies have been the focus of crimes since it is believed that their customers are more inclined to pay with cash rather than debit cards or other computerized transactions.
According to Mitchell, the city has to improve its efforts to foster community trust and take further measures to combat crime.
During the news conference, a representative from a radio station that broadcasts in Spanish questioned city authorities over worries that police respond to calls from the Latino community either slowly or not at all.
According to Hall, efforts are underway to enhance response times around the city. If calls were not returned, he promised to look into it.
