Video shows Navy Yard CVS being ransacked; customers call for change
WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — A new video has been spreading over social media of a CVS in Navy Yard being ransacked Tuesday night by what appears to be teenagers.
Customers and nearby residents are calling for something to be done.
Guy McDaniel is a frequent customer at the CVS on New Jersey Ave. SE. He was disturbed watching a video of several people taking items from the store and exiting when they noticed police arrived. You can hear one person in the video say, “The feds coming.”
“They just come in and just take it,” said McDaniel as he was watching the video.
Theft still issue at CVS store in Northwest DC
A customer was recording the video, and you could see someone throwing something at him while he was recording. Security was at the store, but the video shows them being held back by an employee.
McDaniel quickly noticed many of the people in the video looked very young.
“How you going to sit there, that age and say let’s sit and plan how we’re going to steal,” he said.
Shoplifting at CVS stores is not new to the District. Several locations have closed over the last year. Three locations inside Target stores closed in March; another location in Columbia Heights shut down back in February, months after they noticed high rates of theft.
Incidents at some locations like in Northeast D.C. caused officials to stop stocking some shelves due to rampant theft.
In a post on X, the customer who recorded and shared the video expressed his frustrations saying: “Love Washington but am super frustrated as a resident of Navy Yard. Went to @cvspharmacy just now & it was ransacked. Employees were great. No confidence in @mayorbowser to fix this… Pathetic.”
Columbia Heights CVS to close in February
The Metropolitan Police Department said they received a call at 8:24 a.m. on Wednesday of someone wanting to make a report for a shoplifting incident that happened late Tuesday night.
In a statement, a spokesperson for CVS told DC News Now:
“We’re working with the Washington DC Police Department as they investigate a shoplifting incident at our New Jersey Avenue SE store yesterday. No customers or colleagues were hurt, and the store is open today. The safety of our colleagues, customers and patients is our top priority and we’re committed to ensuring we have the products they need in our stores.”
“We’re working with the Washington DC Police Department as they investigate a shoplifting incident at our New Jersey Avenue SE store yesterday. No customers or colleagues were hurt, and the store is open today. The safety of our colleagues, customers and patients is our top priority and we’re committed to ensuring we have the products they need in our stores.”Amy Thibault, Lead Director, External Communications, CVS Pharmacy
Customers said there needs to be more security, and for parents “to do better.”
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