No CVS employees injured during Baltimore looting, fires

No CVS employees or customers were injured during the looting and fires at several of the company’s Baltimore locations hours after the funeral of a 25-year-old man who died in police custody.

In all, rioting damaged five CVS locations in Baltimore. Two of the CVS locations (2509 Pennsylvania Avenue and 2560 West Franklin Street) sustained fire damage.

Click here to see video of one of the looting and subsequent fire.

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CVS temporarily closed several of its locations. "We are cooperating with Baltimore Police and monitoring our other store locations to ensure the safety of our employees and customers, and are closing additional stores as needed," company spokesman Michael DeAngelis said.

More than 200 arrests were made and 15 officers were injured, according to police. Some rioters set patrol cars on fire, and threw rocks and other objects at police.

On Monday, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency for Baltimore and activated the National Guard. Baltimore's mayor announced a citywide curfew lasting at least one week.

Tensions between police and some residents have been high since the death of Freddy Gray, who suffered a fatal spinal cord injury on April, 19^th while in police custody.

Meanwhile, CVS has temporarily closed the five pharmacy locations that were affected by riots. “Unfortunately, two of these stores sustained heavy damage and will remain closed.  We are assessing the damage at the three other locations and they also remain closed at this time,” said Carolyn Castel, CVS’ vice president, corporate communications. “Our priority today is to maintain a safe working environment for our Baltimore employees and to serve our customers with medical needs.”

Customers affected by the pharmacy closures can fill prescriptions at any other CVS location, Castel said.

See also:

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