This article is a good place for emotional Holiday whining, and complaining about irresponsible, criminal, unfair, unethical behavior, or general bad news. And, oh well, if you must report some good news, have at it. Only about 39 days until the Holidays are over and we begin to get back to normal. And, that's really okay from the view of some of us.
To start off with, here's a couple of articles about capturing swell Black Friday shopping bargains.
US News, 11/25/11: 2 shot, 15 others pepper-sprayed. This is a rolling news report. Submitted by Jim Wagner.
Yahoo News, 11/25/11: Woman pepper-sprayed other shoppers, another version of "dirty tricks" to get ahead. Submitted by Jim Alex.
Posted by Kathy Meeh
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Chris De Benedetti and Robert Salonga
Daily Review
Posted: 11/25/2011 05:26:06 AM PST
Updated: 11/25/2011 04:16:52 PM PST
An Oakland man was arrested after an early-morning Black Friday shopper was shot once during a struggle with would-be robbers outside a Walmart, police said.
The victim, a man in his 20s, suffered major injuries but is in stable condition at an East Bay hospital after emergency surgery and is expected to survive, Sgt. Mike Sobek said.
Tony Phillips, 20, was captured at the scene and arrested on suspicion of attempted homicide and attempted robbery, police said.
He is being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin and is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday at the Hayward Hall of Justice.
About 1:50 a.m., gunfire was reported in the parking lot of the store at 15555 Hesperian Blvd., near the Interstate 880-State Route 238 interchange, Sobek said.
A group of shoppers walking to their car was confronted by at least four people who tried to rob them, he said.
A man fought with the assailants, who pulled out a gun and shot him during the altercation, police said.
Some of the robbers fled in a vehicle, but the victim's family and friends detained Phillips by holding him down until officers arrived, police said.
"It appears to be a crime of opportunity," Sobek said. "The suspects were trolling around the parking lot in a vehicle."
Police did not provide a description of the robbers or of the getaway vehicle.
"We're still in the process of interviewing the one suspect in custody, as well as witnesses," Sobek said. "We're still trying to determine all the details."
Police also are reviewing a surveillance video that captured the incident.
Officers have not recovered a gun.
Walmart opened its doors at 10 p.m. Thursday to allow customers an early start on holiday shopping.
Authorities closed the store immediately after the shooting while officers looked for the robbers, but it reopened shortly after 2 a.m., police said.
San Leandro police were patrolling the store parking lot at the time of the shooting, Sobek said.
"During Black Friday, we deploy officers there to make people feel safe," he said. "They just weren't in the same location as the incident."
By late morning, the shooting had not deterred Walmart customers, as holiday shoppers circled the lot, looking for scarce parking spots.
One was Yolanda Lopez, a San Lorenzo mother of two who was thankful her husband persuaded her to avoid crazed post-midnight shopping crowds.
"I was going to come to this Walmart at 1 a.m., but my husband wouldn't let me," Lopez said. "He said, 'I don't want you to go there and get hurt.'"
Contact Chris De Benedetti at 510-353-7011. Follow him at Twitter.com/cdebenedetti.
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