Argument Over Masks Triggers Deadly Georgia Supermarket Shooting
A grocery store cashier is dead and others injured when a customer returned to the store with a gun following words about face coverings, the DeKalb County sheriff says. Mask requirements news is reported elsewhere, as well.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Georgia Grocery Store Cashier Shot To Death After Mask Dispute, Authorities Say
A cashier at a DeKalb County supermarket was fatally shot Monday when she argued with a shopper about wearing his face mask, officials said. The shopper, identified as Victor Lee Tucker Jr., 30, of Palmetto, left the Big Bear supermarket after the argument but came back with a gun, according to the GBI. The volatile incident also resulted in injury to an off-duty sheriff’s deputy working as a security guard, who tried to intervene and was shot during an exchange of gunfire. (Simone Burns and Hollis, 6/15)
AP:
Sheriff: Cashier Fatally Shot After Argument Over Face Masks
DeKalb County Sheriff Melody Maddox said the shooting occurred inside the Big Bear Supermarket in Decatur while several people were inside the business. She said a female cashier was killed when a man opened fire. “There was some confrontation, argument — I’m not sure exactly what — in reference to the wearing of masks, at which time the subject pulled out a weapon and shot the cashier,” Maddox said at a news conference. Maddox said she did not know the details of the argument. (6/15)
In other news about mask-wearing requirements —
AP:
Hassan: Mask Requirement Lifted For Commercial Fishermen
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Coast Guard have updated guidance for commercial fishermen saying those who are fully vaccinated do not need to wear a mask while outside on a commercial fishing vessel, U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan said. The move comes after Hassan and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, advocated for the change. They had heard from fishermen in their states who said wearing a mask while they work is unsafe, Hassan said Sunday. (6/14)
Health News Florida:
Man 'Stranded' In The Villages Sues To End Mask Requirement On Flights
A Washington, D.C., man finds himself “stranded” in The Villages because he says he can’t wear a mask and the airlines won’t let him fly without one. Now Lucas Wall wants a federal judge to block the rules requiring masks on flights, claiming they are unconstitutional and conflict with several state laws. (Byrnes, 6/14)
KHN:
Being Vaccinated Doesn’t Mean You Must Go Maskless. Here’s Why
For more than a year, public health officials have repeatedly told us that masks save lives. They’ve warned us to keep our distance from our neighbors, who’ve morphed into disease vectors before our eyes. Now they are telling us that if we’re vaccinated, we no longer need to wear masks or physically distance ourselves in most cases — even indoors. To many people, myself included, this seems hard to reconcile with so many long months of masking and physical distancing and sacrificing our social lives for fear of covid-19. What is an anxious, pandemic-weary (and wary) soul to do? (Wolfson, 6/15)
The Boston Globe:
How A City Emerges From A 462-Day State Of Emergency
At 11:59 p.m. on May 28, in the final seconds of the indoor mask mandate in Massachusetts, dozens of patrons inside the Harp, a downtown sports bar, eyed the clock as if it were New Year’s Eve. When it struck midnight, they threw their masks into the air with the bravado of graduating seniors, letting them flutter to the ground like dystopian confetti to be trampled on en route to the dance floor. And yet, two weeks later and two miles away on the sidewalks of Cambridge, where 62 percent of the population is fully vaccinated, easily two-thirds of those in Central Square still wore masks, even as the sun sweltered and the temperature crept toward 95 degrees. (Krueger, 6/14)
In related news —
CNN:
3,000 Unruly Airplane Passengers Reported This Year, FAA Says
Authorities have received more than 3,000 reports of unruly airplane passengers this year, and the majority of those involve face mask rules, the Federal Aviation Administration told CNN on Monday. The sharp spike in misbehaving and even violent passengers includes 2,300 reports that passengers refused to comply with the federal requirement to wear face masks on airplanes. The mandate also applies to other modes of public transportation such as buses. (Wallace, 6/14)
The Boston Globe:
‘You’re On Your Own Up There’: The Rise Of Air Rage In The Era Of COVID
It started as yet another altercation about mask-wearing. But this one was aboard an airplane flying from a state with COVID-19 mask requirements to one without them. Andrew Fahy, a member of the cabin crew, watched as the two passengers stood arguing in the aisle at the front of the plane. “I didn’t get between them, and I didn’t take sides,” said Fahy, who has been based in Boston for 34 years as a flight attendant for an airline he asked not be named. “If you take sides these days you lose. I just said, ‘These are what the rules are.’” (Marcus, 6/14)
