Black Friday 2011 Death at Target: 'How Could You Not Notice Someone Was in Trouble?'

UPDATED: 1:02 p.m.

Target's 2011 editon of Black Friday has been tainted again after a death inside a Target store in West Virginia.

Walter Vance, a 61-year-old pharmacist, collapsed in the Target store in South Charleston, W.Va., and later died after being taken to a nearby hospital, according to WSAZ-TV of Charleston.

What's more troubling, though, is the manner in which customers reportedly treated the situation. Witnesses told the NBC News affiliate WSAZ-TV that shoppers ignored Vance's lifeless body, avoiding it and even stepping over his body. Vance was shopping for Christmas decorations when he collapsed.

A Target spokesman, though, told IBTimes Monday afternoon that Target team members responded to the incident immediately. In addition, a guest nurse and off-duty paramedic performed CPR until an ambulance arrived.

Our thoughts and sympathies are with the guest's family at this time, said Antoine LaFromboise, Target spokesman, in a phone interview.

What the store's customers did or did not do, though, is what had friends and family even more distraught after Vance's death.

Where is the good Samaritan side of people? Sue Compton, Vance's co-worker and friend at the Aracoma Drug Company, told the television station. 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.

Target pushed up its Black Friday opening to midnight this year, something that caused complaints from more than a few workers -- in the form of a petition on Change.org.

Vance went to Target shortly after its opening at midnight, searching for holiday odds and ends for his newly remodeled workplace, according to MSNBC.

What happened next varies from report to report. Walter's wife, Lynn Vance, told the Sunday Gazette Mail that six nurses in the store performed CPR on her husband until paramedics arrived. The Daily News, however, reports that shoppers were ignorant and oblivious to Walter's condition.

He was so excited about Christmas this year, co-worker Annette Fortune told MSNBC. He wanted everyone to enjoy the holiday he loved so much.

Vance had worked in the Aracoma Drug Company for 45 years since he was 16 years old. In the 1970s, he became a co-owner.

Multiple reports said Vance had suffered from various heart ailments for years. He had open-heart surgery in 2000.

In another incident at Target over the weekend, a 36-year-old unidentified employee drove her car into a canal after working a Black Friday shift. She lost control of her car due to exhaustion and plunged into a 20-foot deep canal, according to the Miami New Times.

Palm Beach County sheriff's deputy Frank Mayo had to dive into the canal to rescue the woman, who still managed to call police and explain her predicament.