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More Black Friday Mishaps: SoCal Toys 'R' Us Shooting Leaves Two Dead

by dmeemai | November 28, 2008 at 05:40 pm

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Another sign of the hard times ahead for America... This kind of news along with the Wal-mart stampede is something you might read happening in a third world country but in the US? This is just disheartening...

Of course, this one here could be "gang-related" but why do it in a children's store on Black Friday?!

PALM DESERT, Calif. — Two people were shot to death in a crowded toy store on Black Friday in a confrontation apparently involving rival groups, city officials said.

Palm Desert Councilman Jim Ferguson said police told him two men with handguns shot and killed each other. Ferguson said he asked police whether the incident was a dispute over a toy or whether it was gang-related. He said police told him they were not going to release further details until the victims' relatives were notified.

"I think the obvious question everyone has is who takes loaded weapons into a Toys "R" Us?" he said. "I doubt it was the casual holiday shopper."

City spokeswoman Sheila Gilligan said police told her the shooting broke out between "two groups of individuals that have a dispute with each other."

The Palm Desert Police Department received calls of shots fired around 11:35 a.m., Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez said. He said officers were still investigating what prompted the gunshots.

Toys "R" Us issued a statement expressing outrage over the violence.