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| - Fact Check: This video of ransacked Walmart is old, and NOT from blizzard-hit New York state
A social media post has gone viral, showing people taking advantage of the blizzard that ravaged western New York by looting a Walmart. AFWA's investigation, however, found the video to be old and unrelated.
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India Today Fact Check
This is a 2020 video from Pennsylvania’s Philadelphia. While there were two incidents of looting in Buffalo, the video in question is not from New York state.
At least 60 lives have been lost in weather-related incidents, according to news reports, following a blizzard in the US. The death toll of confirmed storm-related deaths reached 27 in Buffalo on December 27. Fatalities reportedly included cases of people found in snow banks and in cars or who had died from cardiac stress while ploughing or blowing snow.
According to a viral social media post, taking advantage of the blizzard which pummeled western New York, a people looted a Walmart store. The video showed the interior of a flooded store, left almost in shambles, with damaged goods and shelves.
AFWA’s investigation, however, found that the video is more than two years old and not from Buffalo, New York.
AFWA probe
As per local news reports, the New York State Police confirmed two incidents of retail shop looting in Buffalo amid the December 25 storm. But is the viral video from Buffalo?
A keyword search about looting incidents in Walmart led us to similar videos of what appears to be the same store uploaded to multiple YouTube channels in October 2020. Per the description provided by these channels, the video was from a Walmart in Pennsylvania’s Philadelphia.
We compared the viral video with the 2020 videos. We noticed several similarities, like the flooded floor and the kind of debris and the placement of wares on shelves.
We also found several news reports about this incident of ransacking from 2020. According to Reuters, two nights of violent unrest and looting took place in west Philadelphia after Walter Wallace Jr, a Black man armed with a knife, was gunned down by law enforcement. According to his relatives, the man was suffering from bipolar disorder. Following the incident, hundreds of people marched across the city demanding racial justice.
It is hence clear that while there were two incidents of looting in Buffalo, the video in question is old and not from New York state.
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