Beware Black Friday!

Ahh Thanksgiving, a time for family to get together to share a meal and talk about the latest family gossip. And once the clock strikes midnight, all hell breaks loose. You thought Halloween was scary? Honey, Halloween doesn’t even compare to the true terrors of Black Friday. Who would have thought that Black Friday’s killer deals are actually good enough to kill for? From 2006-2013, there have been 7 deaths and 90 injuries, all by people who desperately wanted whatever was on sale. 

In 2008, a worker at a Wal-Mart in Long Island was trampled to death by a stampede of Black Friday shoppers. People lined up and filled the vast parking lot in the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, NY. Police had to be called in for crowd control and when it grew near to opening, tensions ran high. By 4:55am, no police officer could be seen and the crowd became rowdy, fists were flying, people were shoved left and right. Everyone was pressing against the glass doors and witnesses say the doors bent under the sheer force of their weight. Six to ten workers tried to hold them back but to no avail for the doors suddenly shattered, releasing the mob of shoppers and one worker, Jdimytai Damour, 34, was trampled to death. 

That same year, two people were killed in a shooting inside a Toys R Us store in Palm Desert, CA. A witness said she overheard two women fighting the next aisle over. Employees went to break up the fight when all of a sudden, a number of people were yelling, “He has a gun!” Six or seven shots were heard, two fatalities, no injuries, the culprit has not been found nor the weapon recovered. 

In 2011, Walter Vance, 61, was ignored and walked over when he collapsed whilst shopping at a Target in West Virginia, which ultimately lead to his death. Vance was a pharmacist who suffered from a prior heart condition. Witnesses say some shoppers ignored him and even went so far as to walk over him in order to continue shopping. His wife, Lynne Vance, said the six nurses shopping in the store rushed over and performed CPR until the paramedics arrived. Sadly he died at the hospital. There are many more stories just like these that all revolve around Black Friday. 

The deals are amazing but that doesn’t mean we should stop being human. Take care of the people around you and make sure you stay safe as well. No one should feel that his or her life is threatened while shopping for the holidays.

-April-