In North Carolina, a Home Depot is mourning the loss of an employee who passed away last week after sustaining injuries during a robbery in October.
The victim, Gary Rasor, was injured when he confronted a customer who was attempting to leave the store with a trolly full of stolen goods.
The suspect, wearing all black with a hoodie and a mask covering his face, shoved the then-82-year-old Rasor forcefully to the ground and continued walking toward the exit, with no regard for the safety of Rasor was now lying on the ground in pain.
According to Fox News, this incident was directly responsible for the passing of Gary Rasor.
“The victim died on Dec. 1 due to complications from injuries he sustained during the incident. A medical examiner ruled that his death was a homicide.”
WRAL, a news source that is local to Hillsborough, North Carolina, where all of this took place, released surveillance footage of the jarring incident.
Rasor spent weeks in the hospital, unable to walk due to multiple fractured bones that he sustained due to that fall.
Police say that the suspect is a black male, standing 6 feet tall, and was seen leaving the scene in a white Hyundai Sonata with the license plate obscured.
Shortly after the incident, Hillsborough policeman Andy Simmons spoke about Gary’s positive impact on the community.
“Everyone loves him, he’s an outstanding individual. And then somebody does something like this to him just to commit a larceny, it’s absolutely ridiculous.”
While the hunt for the suspect is ongoing, Jeff Rasor, Gary’s family member, is adamant that the perpetrator will be caught.
“This is 100% planned and to include violence for a couple of power washers. It’s almost beyond comprehension. I’m not gonna stop. We’re gonna keep looking and someday they’re gonna make a mistake and that day will be a good day.”
WRAL reports that police have ramped up the investigation now that it is ruled as a homicide rather than an assault charge.
This comes just days after a busy shopping weekend around Black Friday and Cyber Monday also coincided with massive retail theft as thieves are getting more brazen.
According to a report from the New York Post, Target CFO Michael Fiddelke spoke about major losses due to retail theft in the company’s earnings call last month.
“At Target, year-to-date, incremental shortage has already reduced our gross margin by more than $400 million vs. last year.”
The New York Post says that the “incremental shortage,” is a euphemism for retail theft.
In California, 18 young adults were arrested for their roles in an organized retail theft ring that terrorized stores in the Los Angeles area. That ring accounted for almost $100,000 in losses in profit for local stores.
As these thefts at retail stores become more common, chances for massive injuries to be sustained by people like Gary Rasor will also become more common. This is yet another reason to attempt to slow the growth of retail theft in America.
"*" indicates required fields