LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Video has emerged of employees at a Las Vegas valley Filipino supermarket allegedly getting assaulted by a man they say refused to wear a mask after entering the store.
He’s caught on camera hitting one clerk with a shopping cart.
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Store manager Robert Gamboa saw the fight unfold last Thursday. He says it all started when the man entered the store without wearing one.
A clerk caught up with him telling him the store’s mandatory mask policy and offered him one. He says the man refused and then began asking about phone chargers before becoming agitated.
“But this guy was really mad, and he hit my cashier with a cart, a pushcart on her right hip,” he said.
Gamboa says the man then confronted other employees that came to defend the clerk and swung at them.
The man eventually went outside where employees say he got into a scuffle in the parking lot with who they think was his girlfriend.
A customer called 911 and employees say the man was eventually arrested by LVMPD officers. 13 Action News has a request out to the police for more information on the incident.
Gamboa says the clerk that was struck by the cart suffered minor bruises.
“Now they’re okay. They’re back to work, but still, they’re in trauma, especially my cashier because she’s the one really affected,” he said.
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Island Pacific officials say this is the first time a physical fight occurred over its mask policy, but their employees at other stores have been confronted by some customers refusing to wear a mask with racial slurs and language.
“There is a lot of tension because of our race, but we ask people not to associate this virus with our community,” Giselle Tongi-Walters, communications and community partnership director for Island Pacific Supermarkets, said.
They say the policy is meant to protect everyone inside the store as they shop.
“It’s so important that we work together as a community and be responsible, and what we’re doing is no different than any of the businesses in the area.”
Gamboa says the vast majority of customers have complied with no issues.
“Our priority is for the protection of our customers and for our staff. That’s our priority,” he said.
