Black Friday Turns Deadly at New York Wal-Mart

A rush of shoppers trampled a 34-year-old Wal-Mart employee to death early this morning at the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, N.Y. The shoppers broke down the front doors and began stampeding into the store shortly after its scheduled opening at 5:00 a.m.

“He was bum-rushed by 200 people,” coworker Jimmy Overby told the New York Daily News. “They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me. They took me down too … I literally had to fight people off my back.”

Even as he lay dying, store security was unable to restrain the shoppers. “They kept shopping,” said one shopper to Long Island newspaper Newsday. “It's not right. They're savages.” A pregnant woman and three others suffered injuries.

Today is “Black Friday,” the day after Thanksgiving Day, when retailers open early and offer discounts to mark the beginning of the holiday shopping season. The day has triggered chaos and violence in the past.