Freddy's Fashion Mart attack

Freddy's Fashion Mart attack
Location	272 West 125th Street Harlem, Manhattan, New York, United States
Coordinates	40°48′35″N73°57′03″W / 40.80969°N 73.9508°W / 40.80969; -73.9508
Date	December 8, 1995 10:12 a.m. – 12:07 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time)
Target	Freddy's Fashion Mart
Attack type	Mass shooting, hostage taking, arson, murder–suicide
Weapons	.38-caliber revolver Ignitable liquid [1]
Deaths	8 (including the perpetrator)
Injured	4
Perpetrator	Roland James Smith Jr.

On December 8, 1995, eight people, including the assailant, were killed when a gunman seized hostages at Freddy's ^[a] Fashion Mart in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, and set the building on fire. ^{[2] [3]} The attack followed protests relating to the planned eviction of a black-owned business by a Jewish proprietor.

Background

In 1995 a black Pentecostal Church, the United House of Prayer, which owned a retail property on 125th Street across from the Apollo Theatre, asked Fred Harari,^{[ citation needed ]} a Jewish tenant who operated Freddie's Fashion Mart, to evict his longtime subtenant, a record store called The Record Shack owned by black South African Sikhulu Shange. African-American activist Al Sharpton led protests outside the Harlem store over several weeks against both the planned eviction of The Record Shack, and because Freddie's did not employ any Black workers. ^{[1] [4] [5] [6]} Sharpton told the crowd of protesters: "We will not stand by and allow them to move this brother so that some white interloper can expand his business." ^[7]

Perpetrator

Roland J. Smith Jr. was born in 1944. His mother died when he was three. He was arrested in 1962 on charges of stealing a car. Four years later, he was charged with weapons possession. In 1967, he renounced his citizenship and refused to fight in the Vietnam War, despite being drafted. For this, he was sentenced to four years in federal prison. In 1989, he was convicted of resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer in Tampa, Florida. A year later, he returned to Harlem, which was against his probation. In 1994, he was charged with aggravated harassment and resisting arrest for allegedly participating in a street vendor related brawl on 125th Street. On November 28, 1995, the six-story Bronx apartment building that he lived in burned to the ground. ^[8]

Attack

On December 8, 1995, Roland James Smith Jr., who may have attended previous protests outside the store, entered Harari's at around 10:12 a.m. EST with a .38-caliber revolver and a container of flammable liquid. ^[9] He ordered black customers to leave, then set the store on fire by sprinkling around the accelerant, positioning himself near the only exit. Smith shot at two police officers arriving at the scene and shot four customers as they were escaping the fire. At 12:07 p.m., firefighters had contained the blaze and entered the burned-out building to discover seven store employees had died of smoke inhalation, and the gunman had fatally shot himself. ^{[10] [11] [12]} Fire Department officials discovered that the store's sprinkler had been shut down, in violation of the local fire code. ^[13] The only fire escape had been bricked up (this was not a violation at the time, as long as a working sprinkler system was provided), so the only exit for those trapped meant passing the gunman. Three of the victims were found in a back room at street level, and four in the sealed basement. ^[1]

Victims

The seven fatal victims consisted of one Black, five Hispanics, and one Guyanese, and the wounded victims consisted of one Jew, one Guyanese, and two Whites. ^[14]

Aftermath

Sharpton subsequently said the perpetrator was an open critic of Sharpton and his nonviolent tactics. In 2002, Sharpton expressed regret for making the racial remark "white interloper" but denied responsibility for inflaming or provoking the violence. ^{[15] [16]}

Notes

1. Sources disagree on whether this name was spelled Freddy's or Freddie's.

References

1. Kocieniewski, David (December 14, 1995). "An Emergency Exit Had Been Blocked In Blaze in Harlem" . The New York Times . p. 1. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
2. Goldman, John J. (December 9, 1995). "8 Die as Gunman Sets Afire N.Y. Store Tied to Dispute". Los Angeles Times.
3. Hester, Jere (December 13, 1995). "Rev. Al's Caught on Protest Tape Called Mart Owner a 'White Interloper'". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on April 12, 2022.
4. Sexton, Joe (December 9, 1995). "Bad Luck and Horror for Seven in a Shop". The New York Times . p. 1. Retrieved April 13, 2007.
5. Pyle, Richard (December 12, 1995). "New Yorker Reflect on a Massacre in Harlem". Albany Times Union/Associated Press. p. B2.
6. Barry, Dan (December 9, 1995). "Death on 128th street: The dispute; Plans to Evict Record-Shop Owner Roiled Residents". The New York Times . p. 31. Retrieved July 7, 2009.
7. Lowry, Rich (December 3, 2003). "Sharpton's Victory". National Review. Archived from the original on April 16, 2007. Retrieved April 16, 2007.
8. "DEATH ON 125TH STREET: THE SUSPECT;Final Act Fueled by Old Grievances (Published 1995)". December 12, 1995. Retrieved August 5, 2025.
9. McFadden, Robert D. (December 9, 1995). "In Nightmare of Anger, Store Becomes Flaming Madhouse" . The New York Times . p. 1. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
10. "How it Happened; A Gunman and a Fire Leave 8 Dead" . The New York Times . December 9, 1995. p. 30. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
11. Kifner, John (December 9, 1995). "Eight killed in Harlem arson, Gunman among dead". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on June 14, 2012. Retrieved April 16, 2007.
12. Sexton, John (December 18, 1995). "A Life of Resistance: A Special Report;Gunman's Ardent Credo: Black Self-Sufficiency". The New York Times . Retrieved April 16, 2007. Smith was found with a card identifying himself as Aboudima Moulika and he had also used the name Abugunde Mulocko.
13. Kocieniewski, David (December 15, 1995). "Inquiry Traces Sprinkler System Failure in Fatal Harlem Fire". The New York Times.
14. "Cruel ironies". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved August 5, 2025.
15. Alexandra Marks (December 3, 2003). "The Rev. Al Sharpton's latest crusade". The Christian Science Monitor . Archived from the original on June 9, 2007. Retrieved June 19, 2007.
16. Gitell, Seth (July 3, 2002). "Al Sharpton for president?". The Phoenix.com. Archived from the original on October 10, 2015. Retrieved April 6, 2007.