From the Gaston Gazette:

Investigation underway in wake of ‘disgusting’ viral video from Gastonia QuikTrip

The Gastonia Police Department said the scene included some 30 people, with spokeswoman Donna Lahser describing the incident as a “bit of a melee.”

The chaotic scene, filmed in the aftermath of the assault, shows food and liquid tossed on the floor, a woman in distress as she tends to what appears to be a head injury and dozens of shoppers laughing, looting and filming.

The clip ends in what looked like a short scuffle on the property between two people, and what sounded like gunfire that sent the crowd running in the opposite direction.

According to police reports, the aggravated assault took place between 2:36 and 2:40 a.m. Sunday morning, and was reported around 2:43 a.m. at 1843 W. Franklin Blvd.

This is the video:

While I admire the bravery of the guy recording this, I’d get the hell out of there.

I used to work at a convenience store like that.  They had three shifts per day.  Shifts one and two always had two people on duty.  Third shift, which ran from 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM only had one person on duty.  During the week, there was hardly any business to justify two people on duty at 2:00 am.

The problem was Friday and Saturday night beer sales, which in South Dakota end at 2:00 am, by law.

The typical crime was for a couple of people to go into the store after 10:00 and ask for something that distracted the clerk.  Refill the nacho cheese, get the Mountain Dew Code Red out of the back cooler, etc.  Then when the clerk left the front of the store to fulfill the customer’s request, the other people would grab 24 backs of Bud Light and run out the door.  Sometimes the guy at the register would lean over the counter and grab a couple of cartons of cigarettes too.

So what the company did was hire security to work from 8:00 PM to 4:00 AM, Friday and Saturday night.  From 8:00 PM to 2:00 AM was prime beer sales, and from 2:00 AM to 4:00 AM was dealing with people who got kicked out of the bar when it closed and wanted to buy beer, but couldn’t, on their way home from the bar.

That was my shift, from 8:00 PM to 4:00 AM, Friday and Saturday nights.  Standing by the front door in my Security polo shirt.  I was authorized to have pepper spray, but believe me, I had a Glock 23 IWB on me at all times at that job.

The worse stuff ALWAYS happened after midnight, and usually between 2:00 and 4:00 am.

My theory is that most decent honest people can’t be up too late because they generally have to go to work in the morning, and even on weekends maintain some sort of normal schedule.  It’s the ones that don’t have regular jobs that can stay up to the very early morning hours and cause shit.

I don’t know what QT’s company policy is but it seems that there were maybe two people on shift in that huge store (the crying girl in the red shirt with the name tag, and maybe the black man in the gray polo putting on the blue gloves).

Also, notice that the video starts after the shit has started and by the end of the six minutes, the police have not yet arrived.  That delay allowed this to get wildly out of control very quickly.

Unless you have to be out that late, don’t be.

If you see a bunch of cars and people at a convenience store after midnight, stay away.

If you work for a store like this, demand security he hired for the late shift on Friday and Saturday nights, because that is when things are most likely to go horribly wrong.