Waterloo liquor store shooting

As a followup to Waterloo clerk defends self the Waterloo Courier article refers to national statistics covering late-night convenience store shootings across the country and locally.

In 2007, 167 people were killed working retail, according to a study by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Of those, 39 of the slayings were at convenience stores, 32 were at gas stations and seven were at liquor stores.

Police said a Waterloo clerk may have avoided adding to those statistics Wednesday morning when he opened fire, killing two would-be robbers who were carrying guns. Officers said the employee, who worked at East Fourth Street Liquor, appears to be justified. The investigation continues.

Working late-night retail dangerous job

In the middle of the article we find this nugget:

According to 2008 statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, homicide was the leading cause of death for retail sales workers who died on the job, accounting for 58 percent of the deaths.

In comparison, homicide was responsible for 33 percent of on-the-job fatalities for law enforcement workers that same year. Traffic-related deaths accounted for 38 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers.

According to a government study, can we take from it that a night-time clerk's job is more dangerous than a law enforcement officer? Hardly. But it is worth looking at the numbers more closely.

As we see from this week, being armed provides clerks a better chance for survival and at least one clerk at a liquor could be glad not to be a statistic.