At Least One Person Shot at Toys-R-Us in Palm Desert

[Whoa_Nelly]

Source: KESQ.com

By News Channel 3

Black Friday has turned violent after reports of shots fired at the Toys-R-Us on Highway 111 in Palm Desert.

Riverside County Sheriff's Deputies tell News Channel 3 at least one people was shot. One person, a juvenile, was reportedly held by police.

The incident happened just before 11:30 a.m. at the store located at 72314 Highway 111, according to deputies on scene.

Deputies told News Channel 3 that some shoppers inside were evacuated while others were kept in the store shortly after shooting as deputies swept the store for suspects.

Authorities are possibly looking for a green-colored getaway car, either a Nissan Maxima or a Kia.

Read more: http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=9427148&nav=menu191_2

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a little more at link...

Just saw this on MSNBC TV, but no real update online there.
TV report stated two people were killed.

UPDATE:

http://www.mydesert.com/article/20081128/NEWS10/81128021/1263/UPDATE

Authorities say two people have been killed inside a Toys R Us store in Palm Desert. Riverside County sheriff’s Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez says Palm Desert police got a call saying shots had been fired inside the store. He says two people are dead inside, but details were not immediately available.

Witnesses who evacuated the Highway 111 store around 11:30 a.m. told The Desert Sun a gunman was inside. The store is blocked off with yellow crime tape, and television footage this afternoon shows police comforting children at the scene.

No one has answered the phone at the store since 11:37 a.m.

It does appear the deaths are related to the Black Friday shopping frenzy.

...a little more at link...

[babylonsister]

1. Happy Holidays.

:(

[IndianaGreen]

2. Two shot is the latest count

Happy consumer holidays.

[tekisui]

3. Stupid.

Two shot in Palm Desert, one trampled in NY, and a woman miscarried in a mob.

What a bunch of mindless sheep eating each other.

[IndianaGreen]

5. Consumerism run amok!

Details are yet to emerge other than the fight began with two teen girls.

[Shiver]

8. The miscarriage story, actually

Has been proven to be unfounded. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/28/black-friday-stampede-kil_n_146967.html

[cbayer]

4. Confirmed two deaths.

Unfreakinbelievable.

[liberal N proud]

6. MSNBC video

http://video.msn.com/?mkt=mk_us&playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:342c0f0c-22c4-453d-bbb2-e540838c193e&showPlaylist=true&from=mymsn&fg=gtlv2

[L0oniX]

7. Christmas kills ...just stop shopping!

http://www.revbilly.com/

[wartrace]

32. I did & I feel fine.

I now donate to charites every year in lieu of gifts. If people would think about the reason for this holiday they would act a little more like Jesus & less like greedy little children. Christmas shouldn't be about keeping retail chains in business, it should be about helping those without hope.

[L0oniX]

38. Suggestion ...help out at a food line for the homeless ...all year long.

I've been doing that for almost 4 years now and plan to continue it. People who are blessed with enough should share with those that don't. Call me a socialist ...I don't care. If only these so called Christians would actually do what Jesus did they might actually be real for a change. Jesus only sought to help people. Christmas has nothing to do with it. Christmas is a cruel capitalist joke that's force upon people through social pressure. There is no record in the new testament of believers celebrating the birth of Christ year after years nor was it ever decreed to be any such celebration or holy day. It was only those who were sent by king Herod who gave gifts at a later time other than at the birth place days later. The reason for those gifts was that when ever emissaries representing the leaders of nations visited others they always brought gifts. They were not birthday gifts. The reason Herod sent out his emissaries was so that he would know where the child was and have him killed.

[madmom]

9. The article said it does NOT appear to be related to the black Friday shopping frenzy.

[canadianbeaver]

10. Literally dying to get the best deal in town........

Makes one want to forgo the gift giving even more.....

We pick names each year....4 different family gatherings we go to...and this year is the first year I have taken my name off the gift buying lists...everyone gave me a hard time about it too...I told them that my husband and I have everything we need and we don't need anything else....
The year of/after the tsunami I asked the person who had my name to donate it to relief funds for the victims...but no one else in my family followed suit...I was upset about it....I have also tried to get the family to donate/adopt a family in need as well...that too went over like bricks...I sometimes feel so ashamed of how materialistic they all are...but then I think that I was born into the family and married into the families of those who's eyes I can maybe open up....that is what keeps me going....inch by inch..step by step..they too may realize that giving to those in real need is so much more of a gift to others and in the end, yourself.

May everyone take a moment and step back.....take inventory of what really matters in life....the things that can't/shouldn't be bought, sold or stolen...LOVE...LIFE...HAPPINESS...LAUGHTER...HONOR...EQUALITY...The real deals.

[FarCenter]

11. Gunfights in the old west didn't play out like in the movies

Many times the winner was badly wounded. Quite often both died.

[DogPoundPup]

12. Two dead in Palm Desert Toys 'R' Us

Source: The Sacremento Bee

PALM DESERT -- Authorities say two people have been killed inside a Toys 'R' Us store in Palm Desert.

Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez says Palm Desert police got a call saying shots had been fired inside the store.

He says two people are dead inside, but further details were not immediately available.

ADDITIONAL INFO HERE: http://www.sacbee.com/114/story/1434304.html


Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/102/story/1434286.html

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FROM: http://www.sacbee.com/114/story/1434304.html


Immediately after the shooting, about 20 people rushed into the World Gym across the street from Toys 'R' Us, the gym's assistant manager Glenn Splain told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

"They were crying, tearing and shaking," Splain said, adding that one woman came in cradling a baby.

"Some people got into a fight," said Splain, who spoke with some of the customers. "One of the guys here thought it was over a toy but it got louder and louder and then there were gunshots."

Sarah Pacia of Cathedral City told The Desert Sun newspaper she was in the store with her two boys, ages 4 and 6, looking at coloring books when she heard a commotion in the next aisle. She thought it was people rushing to get a sale item. Then she heard three or four shots.

She said she froze, and store employees calmly escorted her out of the store.

"This is Toys 'R' Us. There are kids shopping in there," Pacia said. Her son Jayden, 4, was clinging to her leg. He told her he didn't want to die, she said.

[MadMaddie]

13. WTF?

Over shit products, what the hell is going on?

[Cleita]

14. Free market? Anything goes?

Apparently, there are no laws requiring these stores to make sure they have security to handle these days where there are going to be people out in droves shopping. Shit that would cost money. Let the market decide. Well it decided all right. It decided that chaos and anarchy are supreme and dangerous to your health. These stores apparently don't give a shit about the danger they put their employees in, even if they don't care about any one else, when they don't have a plan for the extra surge.

[fascisthunter]

16. That's Why These Stores Could Be Held Liable

to me, it was the stores responsibility to prepare for large crowds. This crap happens every year... heck, when the florr is wet, what happens? The place a sign out on the floor so no one trips, falls and injures themselves ending up in a lawsuit.

There is no excuse for this crap...

[frylock]

23. are you two in the correct thread?

how is a store to prepare for an event like this?! staff the facility with blackwater goons? you may be thinking about the other event where the stocker was trampled at wal mart.

[fascisthunter]

25. yeah, I'm in the right thread

just disagree, make your case, and save the attack.

It's not impossible to prevent customers from stampeding each other. Your implication that there would be a need for Black Water guards is a bit over the top as well. No one is suggesting such a thing. Sorry, it's the company's property and their sales event. They are responsible. If it isn't possible to prevent these stampedes, they shouldn't have sales like this every year.

I feel the need for safety and accountability, you seem to be against that by stating it's not even possible.

[frylock]

26. nobody was trampled at the toys r us...

this was a shooting.

[Cleita]

35. I guess that's better. People are dead because of it, no matter what happened.

It was gross negligence for not planning for what could happen on a day like this.

[Hannah Bell]

28. They created a situation of artificial shortage (e.g. "limited supply!! 4 hours only!!!!")

that's how.

in every such situation, people do each other dirty.

the sad & laughable thing is, in reality, there is no shortage.

[Nevernose]

37. Even if there HAD been a shortage for real

And not one created artificially (good point, by the way), it's not like we're talking about a shortage of food. This wasn't a riot in a bread line. This was soem guy pissed because he didn't get the last Nintendo Wii or Transformers doll or whatever.

Do you remember the shootings and near-riots that happened when the PS3 came out, or Black Friday last year? Strangers killing each other over entertainment products ... our society is fucked.

[MadMaddie]

39. That's exactly it! They are lying to the public, creating

the situation and then throw their hands up when tradgedy occurs as a result.

[Cleita]

33. They go through it every year and they know the danger in situations like this

because large crowds can go out of control unless there is a back up plan for control. I used to go through this every year on St. Patrick's Day at my bartending job. The owners hired security to keep control of a huge and often very drunk crowd, who often arrived drunk. We weren't making them that way. This isn't like they hadn't had a taste of what could happen before and make preparations for it. My restaurant never had a lawsuit because of St. Pat's, but you can be sure these guys will.

[Dreamer Tatum]

20. Your post has nothing to do with "free markets" as an institution

It's sad, but I guess metal detectors are now in order for toy stores. Sick.

[Cleita]

36. Really?

Where was the fire marshall and other law enforcement types who arrive to enforce the maximum number of people allowed in buildings. We used to have laws like this for a reason, safety. All regulations seem to have gone by the wayside in the spirit of letting the market decide.

[Dreamer Tatum]

41. Stretch-of-the-year award

Maximum number of people? All you need is one a-hole with a firearm to wreak havoc.

[Cleita]

42. I don't argue with the clueless so believe whatever you want.

Just remember that every rock concert you ever went to was micro-managed for security, so you could have a good but very safe time and a big component of that was keeping out any people who had exceeded the crowd limit in any given space. I think metal detectors at the doors could have been a good idea to. I have been in big box stores that have them as a matter of course.

[Dreamer Tatum]

47. "By Order of Fire Marshall: Don't Shoot Anyone"

Is that the regulation you mean? We're talking about people shooting each other in stores,
not the trampling case, in which they should let 10-20 people in at a time.

[fascisthunter]

15. absolutely tragic

and pathetic....

I might have more of an understanding for people trampling each other during a crisis, or for food because they are starving to death, but for material goods? That's fucked up....

[ksimons]

17. was it over Cabbage Patch Kids?

I mean, really.

[villager]

18. Black Friday total, so far: One dead Wal-Mart employee, in NY, Two shot in California...

...Any other casualties for this "most wonderful time of the year" tote board?

[ksimons]

19. and the miscarriage at that Walmart store as well

not sure what else is out there that we just haven't heard about yet

[Dreamer Tatum]

21. She didn't actually miscarry, thank goodness nt

[LiberalEsto]

22. That didn't happen

I read an amended news story that said she was just taken to a hospital for observation.

I hope the poor woman and her baby will be okay.

[gaspee]

24. This is insane

The poor guy at Wal-Mart, now this.

I don't pay attention on Black Friday, normally. Does this happen every year?

[DemFromMem]

27. Proportioned response

Tens of millions of Americans are shopping today in 100s of thousands of stores. A handful of incidents happen and we're talking about making dramatic changes to fix a system that all in all works quite well?

Incidentally, I was at my local Wal-Mart at 5 am (first time I ever went in for the Black Friday thing, but saving money is really important to my family this year). The store was massively crowded even then (the parking lot was completely full when I got there). But inside the store, Wal-Mart had every register going (even in the vision center and the layaway department). For the doorbuster items in huge demand, they had long, but very orderly lines with cheerful shoppers who seemed to be enjoying the spectacle of it all.

In 2006, I was in London with the family when Harrods was having its big annual winter sale. What I saw today at Wal-Mart was nothing compared to the crowds in that store. It was like trying to move around at a rock concert.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

29. Nothing says "Peace on Earth and Goodwill towards Men"...

Like shooting some of them.

[mile18blister]

30. KTLK announced it was gang related

not consumer related a few minutes ago.

[longship]

31. "WAR ON CHRISTMAS!!!"

:evilgrin:

Plus, person trampled to death at Long Island Wallie World.

[xen]

34. More Guns

What we need here,is more guns.If everyone had guns we would be able to stop these shooters :evilgrin:

:sarcasm:

[slackmaster]

45. More guns being carried legally might have helped, and probably wouldn't have hurt

This was a case of two people who were already breaking the law by carrying concealed weapons without licenses, committing additional crimes. Most violent crimes are committed by people who are already criminals.

The net result of this incident is two fewer violent assholes running around armed in public, looking for trouble.

[Paladin]

46. Yeah, That's What That Toy Store Was Missing:

Crossfire......

[southernyankeebelle]

40. OMG What will WM do?

Lets see what Wal Mart will do for the deceased family. They won't do shit for them. They should pay for the funeral at least. Why didn't they have more people helping out at the doors.

[silverojo]

43. Please see my posts related to the Wal-Mart death

It isn't just Wal-Mart, folks. EVERY retailer that participates in Black Friday is instigating violence, because Black Friday shoppers are just uncivilized.

Let's face it, the day is made so that lots of aggressive people cram into one place at the same time, competing for limited quantities of merchandise. This is just asking for injuries and deaths.

I, and everyone I know, will always avoid being out on Black Friday because it's not only miserable, but dangerous as well.

It's partly the fault of the retailers, and also the fault of the crazed "shoppers" (=thugs).

[RamboLiberal]

44. This one probably had nothing to do with Black Friday

Gang related! Could've happened any day in the week. Remember the mall shooting earlier before Thanksgiving? Again probably gang related.

News Flash: The gang-bangers go to the malls and retail stores too!