After the United Grocery store on 50th and Avenue Q in Lubbock was robbed Sunday afternoon, businesses in the area are expressing concern. EverythingLubbock.com went over the numbers of calls to police from Lubbock grocery stores and found that while grocery stores like the one at 50th and Q are overwhelmingly safe, robberies like these may be connected to a larger pattern of crime and high traffic nearby. 

According to Lubbock Police the robbery happened at 4 p.m. when a suspect identified as Dannon Jamall Wafer stuffed food items from the store into his pockets, leaving the store without paying. Two store employees confronted Wafer outside, and pursued him behind a nearby Walgreens.  Wafer then reportedly punched one of the employees and continued to flee.  Police officers located Wafer under a table at the Wash-N-Dry and found raw meat in his pockets. He was arrested and taken to the Lubbock County Detention Center where he remained Wednesday. 

This is the second robbery the United on 50th and Q has experienced this year, the last one occurred on May 5, according to police records. Lubbock Police provided the data from all of the United Grocery stores in Lubbock as well as the Amigos store and the  Market Street on 50th and Indiana. Out of all of those stores, the only other store besides the 50th and Q location which experienced assaults or robberies in 2016 was the 2630 Parkway location which experienced two robberies and one assault. 

In 2015 there were no assaults or robberies reported at the 50th and Q location. 

Lt. Ray Mendoza with  he Lubbock Police explained that considering the high volume of traffic which passes through those stores, the numbers show that violent crime is scarce to non-existent at most Lubbock grocery stores. 

Still, the numbers from Lubbock Police show that out of all the stores examined by EverythingLubbock.com the store on 50th and Q had the highest total volume of calls to the police. Mendoza attributes the high call number to the fact that the region encounters a great deal of vehicle traffic. 

He said that the 50th and Q store sees a high number of calls in part because it’s a gathering place for many people who are traveling in and out of Lubbock; he explained that the location is commonly used for child custody exchanges or meeting locations.

Mendoza said he sees the 50th and Q store as perfectly safe, in fact he is a regular customer there.

He added that the majority of the calls Lubbock Police received from the 50th and Q store were calls to pick up a shoplifter.

“If you look at a lot of the surrounding businesses, there’s a lot of restaurants around there a lot of them stay open 24/7 and they also have night clubs close by, they have hotels nearby they got an elementary school, so those things add to the volume of traffic that’s near the united and that’s why there’s usually a higher volume of calls there,” Mendoza said. 

He added that the night clubs and businesses which operate late into the night are often tied to high activity and crime in the area. 

Mendoza said that, yes, crime definitely does occur near 50th and Q, but on Wednesday he didn’t have enough information from watch commanders to say for certain whether that region is a crime-hotspot.  

The businesses EverythingLubbock.com spoke to near 50th and Q said they feel the area does experience a relatively high rate of crime. 

Tina Alvarez, the Office Manager B&B Auto said her workplace has been victim to robberies recently. 

“We had  a vehicle broken into just to steal a jack out, and they used that jack to steal all four tires off of a very beautiful Lexus that we had parked right under a building in the spotlight,” Alvarez said. “And we’re not the only ones, there’s several people up and down the road that are having these kinds of problems as well and it’s getting steadily, progressively worse in the 4 years I’ve been here.”

She said at B&B auto employees keep an eye out for suspicious activity while monitoring surveillance cameras, but the risk still remains. 

“Crime in this area has definitely risen, in the car industry especially there’s been a lot of break-ins, a lot of cars being stolen,” Alvarez said. “We just recently had one stolen off our lot and we had to submit a police report yesterday. In the area in general, convenience stores, little mom-and-pop retail places and now United in broad daylight at 4-o-clock? It’s a little bit scary.”

Russ Liner owns Wash-N-Dry Laundromats which has three locations, he said his location at 50th and Q sees the most crime in the surrounding area.  The suspect in Sunday’s robbery was actually arrested on his property. 

Liner said that he’s shared surveillance video of his property with Lubbock Police several times. He said that while there is crime in the area, he has been very pleased with Lubbock Police’s quick response times. 

To keep his employees safe, he gives them specific pointers of what crimes to watch for. 

“Know your customers that’s what we really focus on– know who’s in the store and who may be is in the store that’s not using our services that doesn’t need to be here, we keep it well lit well maintained,” Liner said.

Alvarez with B&B Auto hopes that the other business employees in the 50th and Q area are doing their due diligence to report crimes and promote a safe environment. 

“Here my boss is just a regular guy who’s been doing business for 52 years on this block and been in this location since ’91–and we do a lot of business with people up the street, across the road– so I think as a community if we just do  well for each other and help each other keep an eye out, that all contributes and helps,” Alvarez said.