CVS Shoplifter Charles Brito’s Stabbing Death Highlights Serious Concern: After a shoplifter was fatally slashed in a CVS in Midtown, New Yorkers are once again debating how to combat the massive rise in retail theft since the COVID outbreak. The CVS employee who fatally stabbed Charles Brito, 50, on Thursday morning believed that he had a history of petty shoplifting.
“Take a look at the tweet below that discusses the recent stabbing death of a shoplifter at a CVS in Midtown, which sparked discussions among New Yorkers about addressing the rise in retail theft during the COVID pandemic.”
Brito allegedly struck Scotty Enoe in the face when Enoe attempted to prevent Brito from theft. According to a law enforcement source cited by the Daily News, Enoe reportedly moved to the back of the store, retrieved a knife, and stabbed Brito in the body at least six times before other employees intervened to end the altercation.
“I did not strike him due to CVS merchandise. I stabbed him because he punched me. According to the source, Enoe told officers, “Look at my face,”
If future deaths such as Brito’s are to be prevented, store proprietors, politicians, and law enforcement all concur that more must be done to discourage theft.
O’Donnell argues that a failure to adequately punish low-level crimes such as theft has contributed to a climate in which police are less likely to arrest suspect thieves and store employees are less likely to expect officers to respond to calls. President of the Bodega and Small Business Group Francisco Marte conveyed these sentiments.
Marte fought to have the charges against the Harlem store clerk Jose Alba, who fatally shot a customer who had assaulted him, reduced. Junior Hernandez, an employee of a Harlem seafood market, killed a man and injured his brother after they were discovered attempting to steal prawns.
CVS Shoplifter Charles Brito’s Stabbing Death Highlights Serious Concerns
Marte specifically criticised Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. As soon as he assumed office in 2022, Bragg was criticised for suggesting that those suspected of armed burglary in stores be charged only with petit larceny if they posed no actual physical threat.
After hearing criticism, Bragg elaborated on the policy, stating that his office would pursue felony charges against anyone who displayed a loaded or unloaded pistol in a business. Since the message was issued approximately eighteen months ago, Bragg’s agency has implemented numerous anti-retail fraud programmes.
Since assuming office, he has touted a decline in Manhattan’s theft rates, citing May decreases of 11% in pilfer reports, 5% in robberies, and 8% in petit larceny. Small-scale thefts in the city increased by an alarming 44% between 2021 and 2022, but have only decreased by 2% this year. The overwhelming majority of these offences involve theft. The police apprehended nearly 22,000 shoplifters last year.
Since the outbreak, larceny has increased dramatically on a national scale. The National Retail Federation estimates that retailers will lose an additional $15 billion in merchandise between 2021 and 2025, for a total of $140 billion. In a number of pharmacies in New York City, consumers must ask clerks to unlock containers protecting common products before they can purchase them.
Councilman Bob Holden (D-Queens) demanded in a letter sent last month that CVS do more to combat burglaries at its locations in his district. Friday he told the Daily News that they were beneficial.
According to Holden, after he contacted CVS, three former police officers were hired.
“They discovered that only a few of these men are repeat offenders,” he said. They discovered that they were also conducting a large fence business in Queens. Holden responded to a query about Brito’s demise by stating, “There’s this thing called personal responsibility.”
He stated, “If you’re going to punch someone, you must be prepared for the consequences.” “Apparently, he’s been doing that for quite some time, and it’s an epidemic in New York City. I believe it does send a message — you must take responsibility for your activities. It’s not as if he was an innocent bystander who was wounded by accident.”
Additionally, theft has been elevated on Mayor Adams’s agenda. In May, he and the city’s district attorneys launched a plan to reduce retail larceny that targeted both individual shoplifters and the gangs they are affiliated with.
Holden stated, however, that it will not matter if politicians continue to promote laws that, in his opinion, weaken the NYPD. Specifically, he mentioned legislation currently under consideration by the City Council that would require police to provide additional information after a stop.
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams has dispatched a spokesman, William Gerlich, to defend this legislation. Gerlich has argued that Holden “is following a familiar pattern of attributing any public safety threat with public safety reforms.”
Gerlich stated, “In this instance, it is particularly egregious and ridiculous, given that the bill in question has no bearing on this incident and has not yet been enacted.”
A spokesperson for CVS stated that the company is “cooperating with police in their investigation” of Brito’s demise, but declined to elaborate.
