Employee, Suspect Shot at Ga. Wal-Mart (Fort Oglethorpe)

[RamboLiberal]

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/12/27/national/a063200S45.DTL

A robbery attempt at a Wal-Mart led to a shootout with police that left a suspect and a store employee injured.

The incident began around 10:45 p.m. Monday when Fort Oglethorpe police officer Richard Williams saw two suspicious men enter the store and then leave, authorities said. In a news release, Fort Oglethorpe police gave this account:

Williams followed one of the men — later identified as George Curtis Hughes, 44, of Cleveland, Tenn. — and asked him to stop.

Hughes then pulled out a 9 mm handgun and began firing at the officer, who took cover, returned fire and called for assistance.

Hughes' gun had a 30-round magazine, police said. Hughes also had other loaded magazines and ammunition.

[MsKandice01]

1. What the hell?

How many people have been assualted in that place just over the last month? What is it about Wal-Mart that drives people to the brink of insanity the minute they walked through those doors? Wait...don't answer that...

[RamboLiberal]

4. Their parking lots are a target of carjackers, rapists, purse-snatchers

as well. Not well publicized. I will give credit to one Wal-Mart in my area - ever since a woman was carjacked a couple of years ago they have a security patrol in their lot - but I've not seen at any other Wal-Mart.

http://www.walmartmovie.com/crime_parkinglots.php

[Betsy Ross]

5. Do we have a new buzz word to add to going postal?

Going Wal-Mart

[durablend]

6. Does anyone have the number?

I think this pushes it to at least five I know of (including two stabbings here in PA).

Even had a Target cashier flippantly refer to Smiley Mart as a zoo (or something similar...don't remember the exact word she used)

[LiberalEsto]

2. I hope the store employee has medical coverage

but I'm not holding my breath.

[SharonAnn]

3. I hope that it's covered by Worker Compensation. He was on the job.

[CottonBear]

7. WalMart films every car and person who enters the parking lots,

enters the store, peruses the aisles, goes to the restrooms and stockrooms and stands in the checkout lines. (I know because I was on a grand jury in GA and we heard evidence in a case of a crime committed at a WalMart. Each store has dozens and dozens of cameras filming everywhere on the property and in the store.)

The good news is that the entire crime should be on videotape. The bad news is that a huge amount of crime happens at WalMart, ranging from check fraud to purse snatching to to stealing from cars to armed robbery. :(