By Nadine DeNinno: Subscribe to Nadine's RSS feed
November 26, 2011 4:46 PM EST
Black Friday shopping became a deadly holiday pastime on Friday when a West Virginia man was pronounced dead after he collapsed in a Target followed by a stampede of frenzied shoppers.
Walter Vance, 61, collapsed around 12:15 a.m. while shopping for Christmas decorations in a South Charleston, W. Va. Target, according to NBC news affiliate WSAZ. After he was rushed to the hospital by ambulance, Vance died shortly thereafter.
Witnesses said shoppers in the Target on Black Friday walked around and stampeded over Vance's body while he lay unconscious.
"Where is the good Samaritan side of people?" family friend Sue Compton told WSAZ. "How could you not notice someone was in trouble? I just don't understand if people didn't help what their reason was, other than greed because of a sale."
Family members said Vance had suffered heart problems for years and had open heart surgery in 2000, but was looking forward to a healthy holiday season. Vance was shopping for decorations for his workplace on Friday.
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"He was so excited about Christmas this year, he wanted everyone to enjoy the holiday he loved so much," his co-worker at Aracoma Drug Company store Annette Fortune said told MSNBC.
WSAZ reported an off-duty paramedic and an emergency room nurse shopping at Target on Friday tried to give Vance CPR while he was unconscious.
Last year, Target was the site of another Black Friday stampede when a Buffalo man was run over by a mob of deal hunters.
In addition, competing retail superstore Walmart had its own scene of Black Friday holiday shopping violence this year, as one customer used pepper spray on at least 20 other customers to buy an Xbox 360 video-game console.
Police also shot pepper spray around 11 p.m. at people waiting in line at a Kinston, N.C. Walmart as customers tried to control the crowd, NBC News affiliate WITN reported. Another incident showed police in Florence, Ala. Using a stun gun twice on a Walmart customer, CNN's WAFF reported.
According to Sky News, a group of women in a Walmart in Oregon, Ohio fought over bath towels on sale for $1.88 and were caught on video.
A video posted on YouTube shows a man in Buckeye, Ariz. Being beat by police after they suspected him of stealing, Phoenix TV reported 54-year-old Jerald Allen Newman put a video game under his clothing so that he could lift his grandson.
Wal-Mart spokesman Greg Rossiter told USA Today it is unclear how the violence from this year compares with past years.
"Except for a few unfortunate incidents, we've heard positive feedback from customers and our associates going through the biggest shopping day of the year,'' Rossiter told USA Today.
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