🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
Looters took advantage of a deadly arctic blast that crippled Buffalo, New York, over the weekend. Several videos shared on Twitter show dozens of people looting stores and walking around with bags full of what appears to be stolen items amid abandoned vehicles and nearly 4 feet of snow during Christmas weekend.
Buffalo was hit by the arctic blast that subjected many cities across the nation to subzero temperatures made even worse by severe winds. As of Monday, 47 people had died nationwide because of the weather. More than half of the fatalities were in Erie County, where Buffalo is.
One chaotic video viewed nearly 50,000 times shows armed looters exiting a store. Off screen, someone yells "He's got a gun. Run! Run!" Several gun shots are heard and people begin screaming.
?#BREAKING: Heavy gunfire heard as looters flee from business
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) December 26, 2022
?#Buffalo l #NY
Currently Multiple Looting is occurring throughout the city following a major blizzard that took place as Footage shows someone firing several rounds as looters run from a building. Injuries unknown pic.twitter.com/GTWfkMqSeB
Raws Alerts, which reshared the video, said it was unknown if any injuries occurred during the shooting.
The account shared several other videos depicting looting. One video is taken from a moving car and shows looters dropping items as they exit a Family Dollar store. One person appears to be fleeing on a snowmobile. Police sirens can be heard in the background.
"I don't want to get shot because you're taking video," one person in the car said to the person taking the video. "We've got to get out of here."
"Christmas came early," the person taking the video said.
"Watch as video shows dozens of people looting stores and shops after a major blizzard hit parts of Buffalo causing people to be stranded with no supplies," RawsAlerts tweeted. "People can be seen walking out with items."
Another video shows one of the looters allegedly live streaming herself as people trash a store's shelves and steal items.
Buffalo was buried under 43 inches of snow over the weekend and the area is expecting up to another foot by Tuesday. The storm comes only a month after lake-effect snow dumped more than 6 feet over the same area.
The city was impassable for vehicles, and many of the looters picking through the stores were on foot. Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said the "horrendous" storm was the worst one he could remember.
Newsweek reached out to the Buffalo Police Department for comment.
About the writer
Anna Skinner is a Newsweek senior reporter based in Indianapolis. Her focus is reporting on the climate, environment and weather ... Read more