Man lashes out at an elderly woman who asked him to wear a mask in Florida Costco
- A shocking video shows a man screaming an expletive-laden tirade at customers
- He warns those filming to ‘Back the f*** up’ and ‘put your f***ing phone down’
- There are currently no state-wide rules requiring people to wear face masks
A man has lashed out at an elderly woman who asked him to wear a mask in a heated confrontation at a Costco store.
In a shocking video taken at the scene, the man screams an expletive-laden tirade at the customer in the Gulf Coast Town Center store in Fort Myers, Florida.
The man, wearing a red ‘Running the World Since 1776’ shirt – a reference to the American Revolutionary War – approaches the elderly lady and a man believed to be defending her.
He says: ‘You’re harassing me?’ as he clenches his fists, to which the man replies: ‘I’m not harassing you, you’re coming close to me.’
The unidentified man spun around as customers asked why he was not wearing a face mask
The man continues to approach the pair as he yells: ‘I feel threatened, I feel threatened! Back up! Threaten me again! Back the f*** up, put your f***ing phone down.’
He was later escorted out of the store, according to Twitter reports.
One of the customers who was targeted said: ‘To give Costco the credit, they escorted him out and made me wait inside and monitored him until he left and then they sent someone with me to the car to make sure I’m okay.’
The man angrily approaches the elderly woman as he clenches his fists before issuing a foul-mouth tirade screaming: ‘Back the f*** up, put your f***ing phone down’
The video has since been viewed more than 518,000 times, leaving users horrified at the man’s behaviour.
One said: ‘He kept saying “back off”. No one was coming toward him.’
Another wrote: ‘Shame on the managers at this Costco. Never should have let him in without a mask. Here in Hawaii you have to wear it, or they’ll make you leave the store.’
One Twitter user said that no one in the Costco was approaching the man despite him telling customers to ‘back off’
Meanwhile, one added: ‘He seems to feel threatened over nothing. He seems more threatening.’
Although Gov. Ron DeSantis said he has no plans to issue a statewide mask requirement at this time, some counties do have them in place, including Orange County, Miami-Dade County, and Palm Beach County.
And Fort Myers’ city council members have been calling for the city to discuss a mask mandate amid escalating coronavirus cases.
An emergency meeting is being set up and is expected to take place this week, Fox4 reported.