UPDATED: Wal-Mart employee dies on Black Friday after being knocked down by shoppers
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** UPDATE: Wal-Mart just released an updated statement from Hank Mullany, a senior vice president and president of the company’s Northeast division. It includes this passage: ‘We expected a large crowd this morning and added additional internal security, additional third party security, additional store associates and we worked closely with the Nassau County Police. We also erected barricades. Despite all of our precautions, this unfortunate event occurred.’
** UPDATE: A ‘personal dispute’ at a Palm Desert Toys Us at 11:30 a.m. left two men dead from gunshot wounds. Read the full story here.
It’s every Black Friday shopper’s and security guard’s worst nightmare.
Overeager shoppers jostling to get into a Wal-Mart on New York’s Long Island trampled an employee to death this morning in the rush to snatch some good deals.
Also caught in that chaos at the Valley Stream, N.Y., store: a 28-year-old pregnant woman and at least three other shoppers who suffered minor injuries.
According to a police statement, the death happened at 5:03 a.m., minutes after Wal-Marts across the country opened their doors to the holiday rush.
The employee, a 34-year-old man, suffered ‘an undetermined death’ when a ‘throng of shoppers ... physically broke down the doors, knocking him to the ground,’ according to the statement. He was declared dead at a nearby hospital at 6:03 a.m.
Wal-Mart was tight-lipped about the accident, saying in a statement that its officials are still working with Nassau County Police. The statement called the situation ‘tragic,’ added that the employee was working for a temporary agency and confirmed that several customers were also injured.
At a Best Buy in the Glendale area this morning, frustration and impatience caused several small fights to break out in the crowd before doors opened, according to police officers patrolling the front of the store.
--Tiffany Hsu
