Ahh, Black Friday. The time for long and winding lines, cranky and sleep-deprived customers and stampedes of shoppers. Each year brings about another crazy Black Friday story or two – employees getting trampled, products getting stolen and even guns being shot. Here’s a roundup of five crazy Black Friday stories from years past!
1. A Shopping Cart Heist
Normally on Black Friday we’re looking for steals on TVs and toys… not shopping carts! In 2009, more than 500 shopping carts at a Bronx Toys ‘R’ Us were stolen during the holiday season. By the time shoppers were doing their last-minute Christmas shopping, they were stuck carrying piles of toys or leaving unsatisfied.
2. Pepper Spray for an Xbox
Would you pepper spray your shopping competitors for an Xbox? This woman would – and she did. In 2011, a woman pepper-sprayed other shoppers at a Los Angeles-area Walmart in an attempt to get an Xbox. Her attack injured 20 people, and she later turned herself in to authorities.
3. Love in Line
When Matthew Tulloch joined a Black Friday line outside a Kmart on Long Island, he was looking for a good deal on a TV, not a wife. But during his seven-hour wait, he struck up a conversation with the woman standing next to him – which turned out to be a good idea. Now married, Matthew and Michaelle look at Black Friday as a special day and a romantic anniversary.
4. Death Threats at Toys ‘R’ Us
In 2010, a 21-year-old woman was arrested after she threatened other shoppers who were waiting in line outside of a Toys ‘R’ Us in Madison, Wisconsin. Just after the store opened at 10 p.m. on Thursday, the woman tried to cut to the front of the line and made threats to get a gun and shoot other shoppers when they accused her of cutting. No gun was found on her person, but she was arrested for disorderly conduct.
5. A Poorly Planned Robbery
In 2009, an elderly Queens man was walking into his home with his new flat screen TV when he was shot by robbers – but the 47-inch set was too big for their getaway car. “I saw three guys fumbling with a box outside by the lamppost,” a neighbor told New York Daily News. “I saw them fighting over it.” The robbers simply couldn’t fit the TV in their car, so they dumped it on 223rd St. and fled.
Have you had any crazy Black Friday experiences? Let us know in the comments below!