Racist grocery clerks chase customers out at gunpoint for dropping loose change on counter: report

A Tennessee woman says a racist convenience store clerk pulled a gun on her and her husband during a tense encounter.

The Black woman, who was afraid to appear on camera, told WREG-TV that she and her husband went Saturday afternoon to buy a bag of chips at Moses' Grocery in Frayser, and she told police that her husband dropped a quarter that bounced toward the clerk as he tried to place change on a tray near the cash register.

“When it bounced, he immediately went off, and he was like, ‘You (expletive) punk (expletives) -- why you throw that quarter like that?'” the woman said.

The clerk then pulled a gun from behind the counter and ordered the couple to leave, according to police.

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“He said, ‘Just get the (expletive) out my store, I’m sick of y’all (expletives) coming in my store, I’m sick of this (expletive),’" the man said, according to the woman," and as we was backing up out the door, that’s when he slaps his head with an open hand."

At that point, each clerk on duty had a gun and followed the couple to their car, threatening to shoot them, and the woman said one clerk grabbed a third firearm from a vehicle parked outside.

“I’m thinking I’m finna die," she said. "I’m thinking he finna pull the trigger on me, and I’m trying to explain to him, I didn’t throw the money at him."

Memphis police said they had been called 22 times to that address in the past year, but it's not clear whether employees or customers made the calls, and the owners of the grocery refused to comment on the gun incident, which neighbors say has happened before to other customers.

“They held us at gunpoint against our will and just constantly threatened us, calling us racist names," the woman said. "It’s a hate crime.