Looters ransack snowbound Buffalo, NY as cops are stuck elsewhere

Buffalo mayor: Looters during blizzard are “lowest of the low”.
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said multiple arrests have been made after people were found looting stores in the aftermath of the blizzard.

“Our officers have responded to several reports,” Gramaglia said Monday. “We have made a few arrests, we have intervened in some of those. We have assisted at least one location that I’m aware of in getting a store boarded up.”

Latest 4Warn Forecast: More snow expected Monday and Tuesday
Many stores, including all Wegmans and Tops locations in Erie County, have been closed since Friday due to the “once in a generation” storm that brought the region to a standstill over the holiday weekend. But Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said evidence seen on social media indicates looters are not merely taking essential items.

“People who are out looting when people are losing their lives in this harsh winter storm is just absolutely reprehensible,” Brown said. “I don’t know how these people can even live with themselves, how they can look at themselves in the mirror. They are the lowest of the low.

“And from some of the pictures that we’ve seen on social media of these looters, they’re not looting foods and medicines. They’re just looting items that they want. So these aren’t people in distress — these are people that are taking advantage of a natural disaster and the suffering of many in our community to take what they want from retailers — also potentially putting (emergency response) services at risk in the communities where they are looting.”