Bed, Bath & Beyond Calls 911 on Black Couple: ‘It Sent Chills Down My Spine’

Two Black men in Ohio said they never before encountered the humiliation they experienced when they were targeted by armed cops for purchasing “high-ticket items” during a shopping trip to Bed, Bath & Beyond last week.

On June 16, couple Lamar Richards and Austin Geer, both from South Carolina, went to the Bed, Bath & Beyond in Toledo after purchasing their first home. Richards said they were among the first customers when the store opened that morning and noticed they were the only people of color. In an interview with The Daily Beast Thursday, Richards said they didn’t notice anything suspicious at the time but realized in hindsight that they were treated differently than other shoppers. He said the manager told them they had to leave the vacuum they wanted at the counter while they continued to look around the store, but he saw other customers with vacuums in their carts.

(Bed, Bath & Beyond has been doing a number of closeout sales across the country to prepare to shutter doors after filing for bankruptcy in April.)

Read more at The Daily Beast.