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(Winnipeg) The slaying of a 19-year-old convenience store clerk following an attempted robbery Monday night is once again raising questions about the safety of employees who work alone.

In this case, police won't confirm a news report that the victim was shot just before 10 p.m. while his parents, Korean immigrants who own the family-run store in Winnipeg's north end, were in their upstairs apartment and saw the horror unfold on a video surveillance system.

The incident is the latest in a growing list of tragedies across Canada involving employees working in quiet businesses, alone, after dark.

Winnipeg police say such jobs can be dangerous, but they are encouraged to see more businesses taking steps to protect their staff.

"What we have been seeing is an increase in doubling up, or having more than one staff member, so obviously safety is a concern for the store owners," said Winnipeg police Const. Jacqueline Chaput.

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[ 22 February 2006: Message edited by: Hephaestion ]

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Winnipeg police say such jobs can be dangerous, but they are encouraged to see more businesses taking steps to protect their staff.

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Originally posted by radiorahim:
Although this particular convenience store was a "mom & pop" outfit...and not exactly a place one can unionize, alot of them aren't anymore...they're "chain" outfits like 7-11.

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There's no reason a 7-11 or equivalent can't be unionized.. and consider how small some of them are, you would think that getting 2/3 support would be easy in at least ONE worksite.

It seems kind of sad and pathetic that the shop-owners couldn't even double-staff for their own kid.

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A young store clerk shot and killed during a robbery Monday night was facing his own charges of robbery and theft.

Court documents show Edwin Yue, 19, was accused of robbing seven different convenience stores - one twice - and two jewelry stores in a three-week period in the fall of 2004.

Yue was alleged to have used knives, machetes, baseball bats and other weapons to steal cash, cigarettes, lottery tickets, a watch and a diamond ring.

He had been released on bail and was staying with his parents, who own the north-end independent convenience store where Yue was shot.

"The charges were at the preliminary inquiry stage," Yue's lawyer, Ryan Rolston, said Wednesday.

"He had entered a not guilty plea and was in the process of contesting the charges."

Police have charged David Edward Cote, 28, with second-degree murder in Yue's death, and say Cote was supposed to be staying at a halfway house after being released from prison.

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Originally posted by Hephaestion:
Store clerk killed during robbery accused of robbing other stores

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Could it be in this case that all the robberies are connected, and that someone had a score to settle?

[ 23 February 2006: Message edited by: Aristotleded24 ]

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Originally posted by Fidel:
I wouldn't have robbed a store at gunpoint for my addiction.. I don't think?. But that's just me.

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They're stolen because they're easy to sell and untraceable.

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Originally posted by Aristotleded24:
I'm hearing on the news and reading in the paper that the victim fought back when the store was being robbed. Not that this excuses the violence, but most police services will tell people who are being robbed not to resist, comply with the robber's demands, and contact police.

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Originally posted by Mr. Magoo:
Murdering a human for cigarettes is beyond reprehensible. It's an abomination. What's that? You've got some cheap smokes in the trunk of your car? $40 a carton? Well, uh, here's that $80 I owe you *wink*

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People who want to steal cigarettes aren't out to kill anyone, they're out to make quick money. The reason it's a bad idea to resist a robbery is that the person doing the robbery is not in a rational frame of mind (obviously), and if they sense a problem they could easily snap and hurt or kill somebody. Risking your safety over some cigarettes or money or anything else isn't worth it.

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Originally posted by Reality. Bites.:

I don't think cigarettes are stolen by tobacco addicts who can't afford them due to tax hikes. They're stolen because they're easy to sell and untraceable.

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Oh I agree. And then there are people who live on such a tight subsistence budget and clipping coupons to afford a box of KD that a tax hike on smokes is the last straw. I've seen low income people scrounging for butts in the outside ashtrays and parking lots.

At the same time, sick people with excruciating cancer and other sources of pain cannot access the most natural and effective pain killer known to man because big pharma's wouldn't be able to patent a pill for heroin. The doctors excuses range from "We don't want our patients going to heaven as drug addicts" to "We don't want our offices broken into for heroin." Never mind that bathroom concoctions have killed more addicts than pure, regulated sources of heroin ever have.

It's all about capitalism and capitalizing on regulated scarcity. Tobacco is big money for business and the feds. They don't give a shit about anyone's health. There is no cure for addictions. The feds and big business are counting on that.

[ 23 February 2006: Message edited by: Fidel ]

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Originally posted by Aristotleded24:
I'm hearing on the news and reading in the paper that the victim fought back when the store was being robbed. Not that this excuses the violence, but most police services will tell people who are being robbed not to resist, comply with the robber's demands, and contact police. All the get-tough-on-crime measures don't matter when someone is dead, and won't bring back any victims.

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A couple of weeks ago in London, a young woman who worked the all night gas bar not far from me unlocked the door for a guy so he could call a cab.

He attempted to rape her, but she managed to call police and her boyfriend. The boyfriend got there first, and police found the man who assaulted his girlfriend unconscious on the floor of the gas bar.

The boyfriend has been charged by police with use of excessive force. Which is really ironic in London, where police can do pretty much anything to anyone and get away with it. One would think they stretched the excessive force envelope so much that a few extra wacks against some guy who assaulted your girlfriend is pretty unremarkable.

There's a lot of unanswered questions about that case, but it just goes to show.

[ 23 February 2006: Message edited by: Tommy_Paine ]

Ever since the tweakers figured out how to easily turn their drugs into whats known as Ice now, it has just made a turn for the worse. In the last 2 years 4 trailers have burned down in the neighboring trailer park, from meth labs, next to the 7-11 I'm at. Well, theres actually 3 trailerparks where I'm at. Fortunatly I live in a nice big tweaker-free house.

At this moment I'm still trying to figure out whether I want to go back there tonight, or not. I have to work 11-7am.. *sigh.*

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Originally posted by otter:
employers have always viewed employees as expendable.

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