Worker dies at Long Island Wal-Mart after being trampled in Black Friday stampede

BY JOE GOULD
DAILY NEWS WRITER

Updated Friday, November 28th 2008, 2:26 PM

Augustine for News

This photo was taken moments before the Wal-Mart store opened.

A Wal-Mart worker died after being trampled when hundreds of shoppers smashed through the doors of a Long Island store Friday morning, police and witnesses said.

The 34-year-old employee, a temporary maintenance worker, tried to hold back the unruly crowds just after the Valley Stream store opened at 5 a.m.

Witnesses said the surging throngs of shoppers knocked the man down. He fell and was stepped on. As he gasped for air, shoppers ran over and around him.

CAUGHT ON CAMERA: WAL-MART CROWD MOMENTS BEFORE DEADLY STAMPEDE

"He was bum-rushed by 200 people," said Jimmy Overby, 43, a co-worker. "They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me. They took me down too...I literally had to fight people off my back."

The unidentified victim was rushed to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 6:03 a.m., police said.

The cause of death wasn't immediately available pending results of an autopsy.

A 28-year-old pregnant woman was knocked to the floor during the mad rush. She was hospitalized for observation, police said. Early witness accounts that the woman suffered a miscarriage were unfounded, police said.

Three other shoppers suffered minor injuries, cops said.

Wal-Mart spokesman Dave Tovar called the incident a "tragic situation."

"The safety and security of our customers and associates is our top priority," Tovar said.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families at this difficult time."

Before police shut down the store, eager shoppers streamed past emergency crews as they worked furiously to save the store clerk's life.

"They were working on him, but you could see he was dead, said Halcyon Alexander, 29. "People were still coming through."

Only a few stopped.

"They're savages," said shopper Kimberly Cribbs, 27. "It's sad. It's terrible."
 

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/11/28/2008-11-28_worker_dies_at_long_island_walmart_after.html
 

what the H*LL is wrong with people!?!?!?!?

that's me. for some reason when i did it to post on facebook also it posted with my facebook account instead of huddler. i did a post about it in the facebook thread too.

Jesus, trampling people just to get into Wal-Mart?  What the hell?  That's disgusting.

yeah, this just makes me so sick to my stomach and angry and i don't even know. very upsetting and unsettling I guess.

Shots fired at Toys R Us in Palm Desert; 2 dead | L.A. Now | Los Angeles Times


Shots fired at Toys R Us in Palm Desert; 2 dead
1:45 PM, November 28, 2008
Shots rang out today inside a Toys R Us store in Palm Desert, killing two and causing shoppers at the busy store to scramble for cover.

Palm Desert Councilman Bob Spiegel told The Times that based on early reports, two rival groups shopping at the store had some kind of argument and then shots were fired. Two men were killed in the exchange of gunfire, he said.

Riverside County sheriff and fire officials responded to a report of a shooting and two gunshot victims at 11:32 a.m. at the toy store in the Desert Crossing Shopping Center at 72314 Highway 111, said Cheri Patterson, information officer for the Riverside County Fire Department and Cal Fire, based in Perris.

Dennis Gutierrez of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department confirmed the fatalities but said detectives were still trying to figure out what happened. He said no arrests have been made and no weapons have been recovered.

“This was an incident between these two individuals," he said.

Details about the shooting were still spotty, but witnesses said the scene at the store and nearby businesses was chaotic.

"We had a bunch of people who came in around noon," Jeff Valare, manager at the World Gym across the street from the Toys R Us, told The Times. "They looked distressed. One woman had an infant in her arms and was crying. They were telling us they heard five or six gunshots. They were inside the Toys R Us and fled out the back."

Glenn Splain, another worker at the gym, told the Associated Press that some Toys R Us customers "were crying, tearing and shaking. ... Some people got into a fight. ... One of the guys here thought it was over a toy, but it got louder and louder and then there were gunshots."

Saul Diaz, who works as an assistant manager at the Jiffy Lube next door to the Toys R Us, said he was speaking with a customer when a stampede of 45 people ran in. Some looked distraught, some were crying.

"They were running fast straight into the car bays. There was a couple of ladies with little kids, about 3 years [old]. They were all pale. The kids were shouting, 'Mom, I'm scared.' We immediately closed the store," Diaz told The Times. His staff immediately locked the front doors and closed the car bays. "We took everyone into a basement bay, where we keep inventory," he said.

Authorities could not confirm reports by some witnesses who said the incident might have begun with a dispute between two female shoppers.

The Desert Sun quoted a Palm Desert city official as saying the shooting might have been caused by bad blood between two groups of shoppers. “There were two groups inside that had issue with each other,” said Assistant City Manager Sheila Gilligan. “And the two men inside pulled their weapons and shot each other.”

Daniel Watson told KPSP-TV that his wife was shopping at the store and called him on her cellphone about the time the shooting began. "She was scared, you know, and she told me to tell the kids that she loved them," Watson said. He told the station that his wife hid under a clothes rack.

-- Michelle Maltais, Richard Winton, Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Andrew Blankstein

Good thing I do a lot of my shopping online... Looks like shopping drives people insane!!?

Part of this comes from the addiction to over-consumption in this country... it is crazy!!!  No gift - rare game or item - is worth anyone's death, yet many of these folks were really annoyed at the store stopping the shopping to essentially clean up the disaster at the front door... they didn't care about the poor soul.  It is really disturbing to me.  I understand that parents want their kids to have certain items, but to throw out all of your ethics and morals to get it is disgusting...

We should have a "zero consumption day" every month!!!