Norwalk store beefs up security in wake of shooting

NORWALK, Conn. – One month after a Greenwich woman was shot in broad daylight on Connecticut Avenue, Norwalkers Susan and Robert Morgan weren’t too surprised when they realized there is now a security guard patrolling the Stop & Shop parking lot where it happened.

“We live in a day and age where most places are going to have to have security guards in stores,” Robert said. “Doesn’t matter if you live New York, New Jersey, Connecticut.”

“Unfortunately the climate is changing,” Susan said.

The woman was shot in the stomach in the afternoon of Oct. 10 by a man who may have been attempting to carjack her Mercedes, Norwalk Police say. They have since released photos and videos of the suspect, but no arrest has been made.

The video has been sent to a New York police department (not the NYPD) for further enhancement, said Det. Thomas Roncinske.

Since the incident, Front Line Security has been circling the parking lot in a little white car with red lights on top and New York plates. A corporate spokesperson declined to confirm that the increased security was due to the shooting.

The Morgans hadn’t noticed. They said they feel safe because they always park close to the door – the victim had parked at the far end of the lot.

“You should be able to park where you want to park,” Robert said. “They targeted the car, I guess.”

“I didn’t understand that whole thing,” Susan said, adding that she was approached once by a man in a parking lot and had made a scene, because she felt threatened and wanted other people to know.

“I was very upset about that, very,” she said, of the shooting.

Another woman in the parking lot, who declined to give her name, said she hadn’t gone to the store for several weeks after the shooting. “I do what I have to do,” she said, much further from the door than the Morgans. “I go in and I get out.”

The guard? “I had no idea,” she said.

Judy Wisniewski was on the other side of the store, and struck a similar note as the Morgans. “I don’t feel any less safe here than I do sometimes out in the general population. I do park close to the door if I can,” she said. “I try to look out, look around my surroundings, make sure I feel safe.”

She had noticed the security car two weeks ago.

While some people said shortly after the shooting that they no longer felt safe at the store, Wisniewski was relatively nonplussed.

She said, “It affects my opinion maybe of society, but not of Stop & Shop.”