Fact check: Video shows looted Philadelphia Walmart in 2020, not related to Buffalo winter storm

Hannah Hudnall, USA TODAY
·3 min read
1

The claim: Video shows looted Walmart in Buffalo, New York after recent winter storm

Buffalo residents are facing driving bans, widespread power outages and a rising death toll as a result of what is being called its deadliest storm in four decades. Social media users are sharing a video they claim shows a Walmart that was looted during the winter storm's upheaval.

The video, which was shared on Facebook, shows the inside of a ransacked and destroyed Walmart. The floor is flooded and the shelves are empty, while an alarm rings in the background.

"NEW: #Walmart store devastated by ongoing looting in #Buffalo, #NewYork," reads the Dec. 26 post's caption.

Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks

The video garnered more than 20,000 views in four days. Similar versions of the claim have been shared on Facebook and Twitter.

But the video was not filmed recently in a Buffalo Walmart. It dates back to 2020, when protestors looted a Walmart in Philadelphia in response to the police killing a Black man. There has not been any looting at any Walmarts in Buffalo, according to a Walmart spokesperson.

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment.

Video was captured in Philadelphia in 2020

Charles Crowson, a Walmart spokesperson, told USA TODAY that the Facebook video doesn't show a looted Walmart in Buffalo. He added that there have not been any recent accounts of looting in any of the chain's Buffalo locations.

The scenery shown in the Facebook video matches that of a YouTube video published in 2020. The same ransacked shelves and flooded floors can be seen in the video.

"Walmart Looted in Philadelphia," reads the YouTube video's title.

Fact check: False claim Southwest Airlines is canceling all flights through New Year's Day

The video's description says the Walmart was located in Port Richmond, a neighborhood in Philadelphia.

USA TODAY reported at the time that widespread looting and protests in Philadelphia were the results of local police killing a Black man named Walter Wallace. He was shot multiple times after advancing toward officers holding a knife, police said at the time. Police said more than 1,000 people were looting businesses in Port Richmond on the night of Oct. 27.

NBC10 in Philadelphia broadcast aerial footage of the Port Richmond Walmart being looted, while footage of the inside of the flooded store was later aired by Fox29 in Philadelphia.

This claim has been debunked by Reuters as well.

Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that a video shows a looted Walmart in Buffalo, New York, after the recent winter storm. The video dates back to 2020, when protestors looted a Walmart in Philadelphia in response to police killing a Black man. There has not been any recent looting at Walmarts in Buffalo, according to a Walmart spokesperson.

Our fact-check sources:

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here.

Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: False claim that video shows looted Buffalo Walmart