Flash mob causes havoc at Walmart

Laura Zone 5 · #21 07/17/12, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Possum Belly

I guess some would say, they are just kids having fun. We would not have even thought of this kind of stuff when I was young. These kids evidently have no values at all. Just imagine scenes like this when the economy breaks down. And they are armed and hungry.

Flash mob causes havoc at Walmart | News - Home

There is no right or wrong.
Follow your heart.
Do what feels right.
Go with your gut.
Have a good time.
You deserve a good time.
You have earned a good time.
Nobody got hurt, no blood no foul.
Walmart sucks anyway.
What I do with my life is none of your business.
There are no absolutes.
Mind your own business
Who are you to judge.
This is *my* family.
It's not my fault.
I am not responsible I had a bad childhood.

Shall I go on?

Who do we thank for such things like what we see in this video?
I mean really........who do we thank for such a promising group of young people?

Haven · #22 07/17/12, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laura Zone 5

Who do we thank for such things like what we see in this video?
I mean really........who do we thank for such a promising group of young people?

You can thank their parents, youth culture/media and society for teaching them that destructive, negative attention is super funny and rewarded. These same kids probably beat up the smart kids that get good grades and try to make something out of their life.

Sawmill Jim · #23 07/17/12, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by edcopp

No,no. I did not say anything racist. I only used the word white. Now I did suggest the Remington Mod.870 might be useful. Six employees all with the above shotgun fully loaded with blanks and only shooting into the ceiling, would have cleared the area pretty fast.

Anyone hand me any kind of gun with blanks is going to get his head smacked with the stock . If you think these people are afraid of real lead you better think again .

Wayne02 · #24 07/17/12, 01:52 PM

So as a practical matter, what are some of things that could be done to evacuate the area should you be caught inside a big store like this during one of these criminal events?

I'm not overly familiar with walmarts layout as we only go there a few times each year but I believe there is a garden center that allows access to exit the building? Of course this is probably only open certain months of the year and I'm not sure how they handle all the exit doors during the late night hours.

There are probably fire codes that require all the doors to be unlocked during business hours so if one can find a door that exits to the exterior you should be able to get out of the building? I think walmarts often have auto service centers which might be another escape avenue. Also, there may be package pick-up area where you pick up the ship-to-store items and this counter is likely just outside the back-room warehouse section of the building and that may be another exit option. Or it might be as simple as going to the opposite entry doors from the one that the crowd entered.

I suppose you could retreat to the sporting goods section, arm up (if you aren't already), and wait it out until the crowd dissipates.

Sawmill Jim · #25 07/17/12, 02:11 PM

First the way it sounds i wouldn't be near there .Second if i lived there i would move . Even here if a store even looks like many are there i go home .

Me if i saw them coming in i would take the opposite door out or be working that way . If i was caught i would get my hand on my gun and if forced to use it do it well

Wayne02 · #26 07/17/12, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sawmill Jim

First the way it sounds i wouldn't be near there .Second if i lived there i would move . Even here if a store even looks like many are there i go home .

Or maybe if one of the motorized carts is available grab it and fill the front basket with oranges, then return produce fire drive-by style.

MO_cows · #27 07/17/12, 02:40 PM

I didn't catch what time this happened. How late at night were these kids out?? If it is 8 oclock at night versus 2 am, it somewhat changes how I judge the parents.

It could have been a lot worse. They were just throwing stuff around and taking video with their phones to show off later. But with the "mob mentality" in play, if it would have turned violent it could have been real bad with so many in the mob. If anybody tried to be a hero and take a couple of those kids by the collar I bet they would have gotten beaten to a pulp.

If these kids did come from a party broken up nearby, who in the world was having a party with over 300 people in attendance? And if the cops came and broke it up, why didn't they see that the kids didn't head home but to Wal Mart? More questions than answers for me.

If I would have been in that store, I would have looked for an exit and left, like thru lawn and garden or the back of the store "employees only" area if need be. Call the cops once I was in the clear, such as a block away in my car.

akane · #28 07/17/12, 02:44 PM

Quote:

There are probably fire codes that require all the doors to be unlocked during business hours so if one can find a door that exits to the exterior you should be able to get out of the building?

Our walmarts and most of the grocery stores with double doors lock down all but the main door after a certain hour. I believe midnight for walmart they only have the grocery side open and lock the garden and other door. Hyvee in one town says 9pm the secondary door by the alcohol section gets locked. They are only required to keep one door unlocked during business hours.

Most of our greeters can't even walk around and are often sitting in those powered carts in case they need to move around. They'd be the first ones beaten up by a mob if they were worth bothering with in the first place.

SteveD(TX) · #29 07/17/12, 02:47 PM

Kids having fun?

No, hoodlums thinking they are above the law simply because they are part of a mob.

Laura Zone 5 · #30 07/17/12, 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne02

So as a practical matter, what are some of things that could be done to evacuate the area should you be caught inside a big store like this during one of these criminal events?

I'm not overly familiar with walmarts layout as we only go there a few times each year but I believe there is a garden center that allows access to exit the building? Of course this is probably only open certain months of the year and I'm not sure how they handle all the exit doors during the late night hours.

There are probably fire codes that require all the doors to be unlocked during business hours so if one can find a door that exits to the exterior you should be able to get out of the building? I think walmarts often have auto service centers which might be another escape avenue. Also, there may be package pick-up area where you pick up the ship-to-store items and this counter is likely just outside the back-room warehouse section of the building and that may be another exit option. Or it might be as simple as going to the opposite entry doors from the one that the crowd entered.

I suppose you could retreat to the sporting goods section, arm up (if you aren't already), and wait it out until the crowd dissipates.

1. Alone or with my kids......we are Aholes and Elbows to sporting goods IF it is closer than the nearest exit away from the crowd.
2. Assuming sporting goods is closer.....arm up, lock and load. If I have to break the glass case to do it, so be it, I will pay to replace it when the riot is over.
3. ONCE I have armed up, ammoed up, I am heading for the closest exit the furthest from the mob.
4. ONCE I am CLEAR of the building and any immediate threat.....if the kids are with me, they will be on the phone to 911......if I am alone, I will find a secure spot where I can use my phone and call for help.

God help the poor fool that tries to pull something stupid when my kids are with me. Don't no one wana wake that sleeping giant. Gloves off, game on...come at me bro!

Haven · #31 07/17/12, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laura Zone 5

1....come at me bro!

lolol!

JeffreyD · #32 07/17/12, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darren

I wonder how effective the police would have been at handling a riot like that since it was in a large Walmart. The next question that comes to mind is, if this is a trend, what does the future hold for us? I don't recall mobs throwing merchandise before. We had a post in the past about a man being killed with a baseball bat the attacker picked up in the store.
With this, the widespread publicity, and probably an upcoming demonstration of police ineffectiveness, what's next? It's disturbing that this occurred in a store with as many cameras as a Walmart. That shows a mental atitude that leaves me dumbfounded. I can understand herd behavior. People will do things in a group they wouldn't do by themselves. But this is an ugly escalation in mobbing behavior in businesses.

The man that died in that Lakewood Ca. Walmart was my friend, Dave Oakleaf! He refused to give his killer any money and was brutaly beaton by a black man, much bigger than Dave, with a baseball bat the killer took from the sporting goods section. It only takes a second for your life to change!

Michael W. Smith · #33 07/17/12, 03:37 PM

As soon as this started, the managers of Walmart should have called 911 and then put the store in lockdown - trapping all the "We just wanted to have fun" hoodlums inside. Once the police were there (with the State police behind them) ONE door could be unlocked to let the police in and then the police could have arrested everyone inside.

I doubt it would take long to separate the hoodlums from real customers.

As many cameras as there are in a Walmart, they should be able to have enough video to find alot of the culprits.

Ozarks Tom · #34 07/17/12, 03:40 PM

I'm still waiting for the liberals who haunt this site to explain they were "provoked".

Ambereyes · #35 07/17/12, 04:41 PM

IMHO these people are nothing more than a gang of bullies. They enjoy terrorizing the ones they consider weak. Really don't care if the feel provoked, disenfranchised or any of the other buzz words in an attempt to play down this action.

If someone had tried to stop them it would have ended badly with the person either beat down or dead. There need to be consequences for these bullies and their terrorizing of others. How would you have felt if you were shopping in that store with small children?

Bluesgal · #36 07/17/12, 04:58 PM

EVERY public store has emergency exits.. some of the exits are in the backroom. Next time you are in a Walmart or Target or some such store, walk the perimeter of the store, you will find an exit door on every outside wall. They have what is called a "push bar" alarm on them, push the bar and the door opens and an alarm sounds.. You are now out of the building. Even though the backrooms have "locked" bay doors all of the regular size doors will open from the inside.

Again, you will set off an alarm, but in a riot type of environment that doesn't matter.

One should always know where the exits are and look for them every time they enter a building, restaurant, store, stadium etc.

Bluesgal · #37 07/17/12, 05:01 PM

Mr. Smith, as a former Walmart manager I can tell you that they probably did call 911 within moments of this starting, policy and procedure dictates that they not get into a fight. "merchandise can be replaced, lives can not". They will discipline workers chasing shoplifters into parking lots to make that point (enough people have been killed in the parking lots doing that).

If it was after 10pm there were probably only 60-70 employees in the building and about the same or less number of shoppers.. against 300 teenagers??

HeelSpur · #38 07/17/12, 05:11 PM

I guess every now&then the tribal mentality comes rushing out.

Trixie · #39 07/17/12, 06:11 PM

Isn't it funny how we have come up with euphemisms because we don't want to say the harsh truths anymore.

This isn't 'vandalism'. This is a mob that is destroying other people's property. The scary thing is they weren't hiding it, and they knew there were cameras.

All it would have taken is for one person, one of the mob, to decide to attack someone - or someone attempt to stop the mob and someone would have been hurt.

No, this isn't just a childhood prank - they know it - and we all know it.

I'd be interested to know if they have done an inventory to see what might have gotten stolen, other than groceries, while some of these 'exurberant children' were holding everyone's attention. I wonder if they do find out they did, in fact, steal will we ever hear it?

unregistered41671 · #40 07/17/12, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laura Zone 5

1. Alone or with my kids......we are Aholes and Elbows to sporting goods IF it is closer than the nearest exit away from the crowd.
2. Assuming sporting goods is closer.....arm up, lock and load. If I have to break the glass case to do it, so be it, I will pay to replace it when the riot is over.
3. ONCE I have armed up, ammoed up, I am heading for the closest exit the furthest from the mob.
4. ONCE I am CLEAR of the building and any immediate threat.....if the kids are with me, they will be on the phone to 911......if I am alone, I will find a secure spot where I can use my phone and call for help.

God help the poor fool that tries to pull something stupid when my kids are with me. Don't no one wana wake that sleeping giant. Gloves off, game on...come at me bro!

I agree but,
I would be armed long before I walk in the door. It is just a way of life. I don't walk outside my door unarmed.