By Andrea Buenrostro, Courier Staff Writer
The biggest shopping day of the year unfortunately resulted in 7 injuries and 3 deaths.
The first reported incident occurred in southern New Jersey, at the Hamilton Mall in the early morning hours. The details aren’t very specific but it was claimed to be a shooting outside of the Macy’s parking lot that left one person dead and another injured.
On Thanksgiving night, the next tragedy took place in Reno, Nevada. Outside of a Walmart, a customer shot another person (killing them), in an action of road rage over a parking spot. The suspect fled the scene and the store was kept open for shoppers as the police went on with their investigation.
The Black Friday madness even extended to across the globe to the England. In the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, an off-duty police officer was stabbed in the neck and near the face by a shopper after they were confronted of shoplifting. The officer was rushed to the hospital, expected to live because the injuries were not life threatening. Further south, a woman was hurt in a stampede at shopping center in Durban, South Africa. Her shoulder was treated in the result of thousands of crazed shoppers.
Shots were fired again in Memphis, Tennessee outside of Wolfchase Galleria Mall. The chaos was reported by witnesses that a car passed by and the suspect shot several times then drove off. It turned out to be 3 suspects, one being only 19 years old and was arrested for possession of a weapon (along with one more suspect). There were no signs of injured shoppers until a 21 year old appeared at a hospital with a gunshot wound. The two arrested suspects were released, and the the police continued searching for the shooter.
A rather strange incident happened when a shirtless man ran around with a belt and started whipping people. An Adidas store on Granville Street in Vancouver, Canada, was releasing a rare shoe for their Black Friday event. There was a big crowd of people waiting for the store to open when things got violent and people were fighting. One victim had to go to the hospital and get staples on his wound. Then shirtless man was arrested and the shoe sale was cancelled.
The last reported tragedy, as of right now, left two women injured and one man dead. The scene started in San Antonio, Texas when a man was circling a Walmart parking lot, waiting for his wife to return from the store when he saw a woman getting beaten by a man. Then man in the car, Isidro Zarate (39), told the man to take his hands off of the woman. The man then proceeded to reach for his gun, fatally shooting Zarate in the neck. More shots were fired, injuring a girl who was also in the car with Zarate and another woman in the parking lot, who was not even involved in the incident. The man was arrested and Zarate’s wife and children were left with only the remembrance of the kind, loving man he was.
As we look back at this year’s Black Friday at the end of 2016, we cannot help but feel the chaotic nature of this year. However, despite all the turmoils in various aspects, we should find ourselves inspired and motivated to keep social orders and get ready for next year. In addition to mourning for the tragedies in 2016’s Black Friday, we should set them as reminders as we step into the brand new 2017.
