By Jody Callahan
The Commercial Appeal
MEMPHIS — In an attack that is stirring outrage across Memphis, a group of more than 20 youths assaulted at least three people in the parking lot of the Poplar Plaza Kroger Saturday night.
None of the three victims — all male, aged 17, 18 and 25 — was seriously injured, police said. Police were interviewing witnesses and trying to find security footage that might show the attack Sunday, but had made no arrests.
A video of the attack was posted on Facebook and spread through social media Sunday morning. The video was taken by an off-duty Kroger employee who was at the store that night, Kroger spokesman Joe Bell confirmed.
“It was an unfortunate situation that happened on our lot last night. A couple of our boys were attacked by a group of young men that were out looking for mischief,” Bell said, adding that the boys’ parents took them to the hospital to be checked out. “They’re okay, they’re fine this morning. They’re shaken. We’ve turned everything that we have over to the police.”
Memphis Police Department Director Toney Armstrong was one of those expressing outrage, saying that the parents of those involved may also face charges.
“It is extremely troubling to see how many young people were involved, especially on the heels of last week’s youth forum. A lot of our citizens are working to provide safe and productive alternatives for our youth,” Armstrong said in a statement. “For those that choose not to take advantage of these opportunities, we will work tirelessly to identify, locate and hold you accountable. Last night’s events clearly demonstrates a lack of parental controls and if warranted these parents will also be held accountable.”
Added City Council Chairman Jim Strickland: “This is unacceptable. These kids need to be arrested and punished.”
According to police, the attack began just after 11:15 p.m. A group of youths numbering 20 or more left the nearby CiCi’s Pizza, police said, with some yelling “Fam Mob.”
Someone in the group spotted the 25-year-old man getting out of his vehicle, heading toward Kroger. They apparently picked the man at random and attacked him, police said. In the video, the man can be seen running toward the store entrance.
The Kroger employee who filmed the incident can be heard laughing, calling the mob “hood rats.” She then saw the initial attack on the customer, but was still laughing: “They fixin’ to fight! They fixin’ to jack! Hold on, they got a white dude!”
The mob was made up of black youths.
At this point in the video, it appears that the two Kroger employees — one white, the other black — ran out to help. But the mob attacks them as well, and in one brutal scene, a youth wearing a green-and-white- striped shirt starts stomping and kicking one of the employees.
The employee is curled into a ball on the ground right outside the store doors. While he was on the ground, it appears that someone threw or dropped heavy pumpkins, which were for sale on a stand outside the store, onto him.
The other store employee, wearing a reflective vest, was then thrown to the ground. Both store employees lost consciousness, police said.
The woman shooting the video started yelling for security, then followed that with “Somebody call somebody!”
The video also shows what appears to be a security guard, appears to run back to the woman who is filming, hand her his phone, then go back outside to intercede.
Central Defense security handles that Kroger store, Bell confirmed. They are responsible for patrolling the store but not the parking lot. The owner of the shopping center is responsible for the lots.
The incident might have remained in the background if not for the power of social media. Even though the person who originally shared the video took it down, it was still all over the Internet Sunday afternoon.
Copyright 2014 The Commercial Appeal