News Follow-up: Wish Atlanta Boutique Changes Policy Following Little Five Points Shooting

LITTLE FIVE POINTS — After a deadly shooting of a man who tried to rob a group of people waiting in line overnight for a new release of basketball sneakers, a local retailer is making some operational changes.

Wish Atlanta Boutique was one of several retailers selling the coveted $180 Nike LeBron X EXT sneakers June 20.

But the line of people camped out overnight proved too tempting a target for Sandy R. Ezzard, the man police said was shot and killed as he attempted to rob them.

That prompted Wish to change policy with respect to release dates of new items that have pent up demand.

"They are taking this very seriously, as they should." Bob Sandage, president of the Little Five Points Business Association wrote to area residents  late last week:

"Shoe makers like Nike schedule release dates, not Wish.  Wish has always done their release the same day as the manufacturer.  In the future, (a)Wish will randomly choose a day after the manufacturer's release date in which to have their release.  The day of their randomly chosen release, they will get the word out only via targeted methods like social media, email, website, etc.  (b) they will have paid security there for any future releases.

"It may take a release or two for customers to realize that Wish is not releasing the same day as the manufacturer, so there may be some lines. ... They are committed to doing everything possible to prevent an incident like this from happening again."