Black Friday, routinely one of retail’s busiest shopping days of the year in the United States, has spread to countries around the world. Chaotic scenes of aggressive shoppers battling one another for deeply discounted goods are making the rounds on social media Friday.
In Sao Paulo, Brazil, scuffles broke out as dozens of shoppers raced into a department store to grab marked down televisions.
Scenes purportedly filmed at Baywest Mall in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, show frenzied shoppers rushing into Game, a popular chain department store to score the elections and clothing.
Bargain buyers in Cape Town formed long lines as they waited for Game in Canal Walk shopping center to open at midnight.
Jovial employees broke into a dance before the Black Friday madness took over the store.
In Sydney, Australia, fashion-forward shoppers braved the heat while waiting in line get there hands on luxury items from Gucci and Burberry. A Nike store in Thessaloniki, Greece was mobbed by a swarm of customers before opening its doors. Ahead of the annual shopping bonanza, British shoppers in Newcastle and Birmingham formed long lines outside Tesco, later storming the electronics section for video game consoles.
Back in the U.S., police on Friday responded to a fight inside an Alabama shopping mall shot and killed a man who had brandished a weapon. Two other people were injured, including a 12-year-old girl.
The Hoover Police Department said in a statement that two men were engaged in a “physical altercation” at the glitzy Riverchase Galleria in Hoover late Thursday, when one of the men pulled out a handgun and shot the other man twice.
Two officers who were providing security at the mall heard the gunfire and approached the area. They spotted a suspect waving a pistol and shot him. He died at the scene. His name was not immediately released, but police said he was 21 years old and from Hueytown.
The other shooting victim was an 18-year-old male from Birmingham. He was taken to a nearby hospital in serious condition. A 12-year-old bystander was also shot and taken to Children’s Hospital by a Hoover Fire Department rescue squad. She was reportedly in stable condition.
UPDATE: The Hoover Police Department released a correction after reporting that one of their officers had shot the Riverchase Galleria gunman. In the correction they admitted to shooting a 21-year-old Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford, Jr., whom they now describe as ‘fleeing the shooting scene while brandishing a handgun,” although ‘he likely did not fire the rounds that injured the 18-year-old victim.’
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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