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Nov 28, 2008 6:03 pm US/Central
2 Dead In Black Friday Toys 'R' Us Shooting
PALM DESERT, Calif. (CBS) ―
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A shooting inside a Toys "R" Us on the busiest shopping day of the year killed two people on Nov. 28, 2008.
A shooting inside a Toys "R" Us on the busiest shopping day of the year killed two people in Palm Desert, Calif., authorities said.
The violence erupted on Black Friday, the traditional post-Thanksgiving start of the holiday shopping surge, but accounts of what occurred inside the store were fragmentary or second hand and it was not clear whether it involved any shopping frenzy.
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.
Palm Desert Councilman Jim Ferguson says police told him two men with handguns shot and killed each other, reports CBS station KCBS-TV in Los Angeles. An argument reportedly broke out between two female shoppers just before the shooting.
A witness reportedly yelled, "He's got a gun," as a man who was with one of the two women opened fire.
Daniel Watson rushed to the scene when he received a frantic call from his wife, who was inside the store at the time of the shooting.
Immediately after the shooting, about 20 people rushed into the World Gym across the street from Toys "R" Us, the gym's assistant manager Glenn Splain told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
"They were crying, tearing and shaking," Splain said, adding that one woman came in cradling a baby.
"Some people got into a fight," said Splain, who spoke with some of the customers. "One of the guys here thought it was over a toy, but it got louder and louder and then there were gunshots."
Sarah Pacia of Cathedral City told The Desert Sun newspaper she was in the store with her two boys, ages 4 and 6, looking at coloring books when she heard a commotion in the next aisle. She thought it was people rushing to get a sale item. Then she heard three or four shots.
She said she froze, and store employees calmly escorted her out of the store.
"This is Toys "R" Us. There are kids shopping in there," Pacia said. Her son Jayden, 4, was clinging to her leg. He told her he didn't want to die, she said.
The store's parking lot was surrounded by yellow police tape.
Toys"R" Us issued a statement expressing its outrage "by the act of violence" and "the fact that anyone would compromise the safety and security of our customers and employees."
"We are working closely with local law enforcement officials to determine the specific details of what occurred," the statement said. "Our understanding is that this act seems to have been the result of a personal dispute between the individuals involved. Therefore, it would be inaccurate to associate the events of today with Black Friday."
Palm Desert is about 120 miles east of Los Angeles.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
