Few clues in toy store deaths CRIMECalifornia shoppers flee as shooting erupts
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 29, 2008
A Riverside County Sheriff's deputy walks in the parking lot following a shooting that left two dead in a Toys R Us store in Palm Desert, Calif., Friday, Nov. 28, 2008. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
PALM DESERT, Calif. — Two people were shot to death in a crowded toy store on Black Friday in a confrontation apparently involving rival groups, city officials said.
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Palm Desert Councilman Jim Ferguson said police told him two men with handguns shot and killed each other. Ferguson said he asked police whether the incident was a dispute over a toy or whether it was gang-related. He said police told him they were not going to release further details until the victims’ relatives were notified.
"I think the obvious question everyone has is: Who takes loaded weapons into a Toys ‘R’ Us?” he said. "I doubt it was the casual holiday shopper.”
City spokeswoman Sheila Gilligan said police told her the shooting broke out between "two groups of individuals that have a dispute with each other.”
Immediately after the shooting, about 20 people rushed into the World Gym across the street from the Toys "R” Us store, gym Assistant Manager Glenn Splain said.
"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 them. "One of the guys here thought it was over a toy, but it got louder ... and then there were gunshots.”
