7-Eleven Encourages Los Angeles Franchises to Close amid String of Armed Robberies, Murders
As Sunday night gave way to Monday morning (“National 7/11 Day”), a string of Los Angeles area 7-Elevens were robbed and two people — one customer and one clerk — were killed, prompting corporate headquarters to encourage local franchisees to close temporarily.
Three others were wounded in the five armed robberies that occurred over the course of the late evening and early morning.
“Our hearts are with the victims and their loved ones. We are gathering information on this terrible tragedy and working with local law enforcement,” said 7-Eleven in a statement. “Right now, our focus is on Franchisee, associate and customer safety. With that in mind, we encouraged stores in the Los Angeles area to close overnight.”
At least three of the robberies are believed to have been committed by the same suspect, including the two that included murders at 7-Elevens in Brea and Santa Ana. It is unclear whether the violence had anything to do with the chain’s National 7/11 Day promotion, which offered customers a free Slurpee beginning at midnight on Monday.
The violent evening is a reminder of Los Angeles’s rising murder rate. Through June 18, murders were up 5.5 percent in 2022 over the previous year and up 35 percent over 2020.
Monday also saw Starbucks announce that it would be closing down 16 locations in urban centers around in the country, including Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, citing safety concerns in each of those cities, reported the Wall Street Journal.
“We read every incident report you file—it’s a lot,” wrote Starbucks executives Debbie Stroud and Denise Nelson in a message delivered to U.S. employees and obtained by the Journal. “We cannot serve as partners if we don’t first feel safe at work,” continued Stroud and Nelson.
