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Looting by individuals
Horace Fowler’s explanation of how he came to be arrested captured both the larger context and that he acted on his own. He told the Probation Department officer that "he mingled with the crowds on the streets of Harlem following the disturbances and that when he observed the looting taking place, he stole the articles indiscriminately." Fowler did that by reaching into the window of Nicholas Peet's tailor's shop at 2063 7th Avenue and taking a man's suit and a lady's coat. While the detective who saw Fowler and arrested him alleged he broke the window to get access to the clothing, Fowler insisted the window was already damaged. Only one of the other men arrested acting alone to loot a store entered an already damaged store. Officer William Leahy of the 28th Precinct allegedly saw Joseph Wade coming out of Frank De Thomas' candy store at 101 West 127th Street, but did not see him break the store window. Another man was observed by Adam Clayton Powell stepping through the window of a damaged tailor’s store and later exiting wearing a coat, with no indication others were taking merchandise from the store at the same time.
Most of those arrested allegedly did both break and enter stores: Carl Jones, James Hayes, and Lamter Jackson threw stones to smash windows and then reached in to take items from the display, while Julian Rogers kicked in a window so he could take three shoes. The noise when a window broke would have attracted the attention of police in the area who might otherwise have focused on groups. Breaking glass also allegedly caused a police car patrolling on 8th Avenue to stop, and two officers to enter a grocery store and shoot James Thompson as a suspected looter.