Stateside Stories

Soon, Black Friday will be upon us. The promise of obtaining luxury goods for cheap prices is extremely appealing, and many will be searching the internet for some of the best deals. Online shopping is the way many hunt for Black Friday deals now, but there was once a time when people flocked to the shops in large numbers to find great deals. This would often cause disaster, especially in the US where Black Friday is taken very seriously. There is actually a website called “Black Friday Death Count” which is dedicated to the deaths and injuries that have occurred during this annual stampede to the shops. Here, I will be examining a few occasions where Black Friday shopping went horribly wrong.

The Toy R Us Shooting (California, 2008)

In a rather bizarre incident, two men pulled out handguns and shot each other in a crowded Toy R Us store on Black Friday 2008. Both men died in the incident, and for a while it was unknown what caused their fatal scuffle. They were both with their wives, who got into a confrontation with each other. The women began fighting, punching each other until their noses bled. This escalated when their husbands, 39-year-old Alejandro Moreno and 28-year-old Juan Meza both pulled out their guns and shot each other simultaneously. It is unknown if the dispute was over a Black Friday deal or not, as nobody saw any children with the fighting couples. Nobody else was hurt in the incident, but it frightened many shoppers, especially those who had their children with them.

The LA Pepper-Spray attack (California, 2011)

Unlike the first incident to take place in California, this one was not fatal, but it did leave 20 people injured. Whilst shopping for video games in Walmart, a woman began pepper-spraying other customers so she could get the first pick of the games. This incident was captured on film, and quickly went viral. The video showed other shoppers running away and screaming in pain as pepper spray irritated their eyes. Despite the chaos around her, the culprit, an unidentified woman in her 30’s, calmly went to the till and paid for her items. A police inquiry was launched soon afterwards, and the woman handed herself into the police the next day.

Black Friday Shoppers Leave Employee to Die (West Virginia, 2011)

Perhaps one of the darkest Black Friday incidents occurred in a Target in 2011. Walter Vance was a 61-year-old who suffered from a heart condition. He collapsed in the middle of the store during a really busy period of Black Friday shopping. Other customers were so keen on grabbing the best deals and getting items first that they not only ignored Vance’s collapse, they actually stepped over his body as he laid on the floor dying. Nurses arrived to perform CPR on Vance, but it was too late. The incident shocked the nation, as it showed how badly greed could consume people. It became symbolic of how self-centred and callous people have become as they valued material goods over someone’s life.

The Parking Space Dispute (Florida, 2012)

Another incident that involved guns. A couple were arguing with another driver over a Walmart parking space. This driver pulled out a handgun and shot the couple before driving away. Luckily, the couple only received minor injuries and recovered after a short stay in hospital. Not many details of the incident are known, other than that the driver was in a green car and that the Walmart closed for a few hours before re-opening, not wanting the incident to ruin their chances at making plenty of money. The fact that this incident is relatively obscure highlights how commonplace Black Friday disasters have become. Injuries are just part of the course.