A 21-year-old man was shot in the chest early Friday morning (November 17) in Putnam, Connecticut, as he stood in line with more than 20 other people waiting to purchase the PlayStation 3 video-game console on its first day of release.
The unnamed victim, who police said lives in nearby Webster, Massachusetts, remains in critical condition at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he was transported by ambulance just after 3:30 a.m.
According to Lt. J. Paul Vance, a spokesman for the Connecticut state police, two armed robbers confronted the crowd standing outside the Wal-Mart in Putnam, waiting for the store to open. The robbers, who were both described as white males in their late teens, wore black clothing and matching ski masks; one brandished a handgun, while the other was armed with a shotgun.
Vance said the two demanded cash. "One person," the victim, "confronted the subjects, and refused to cooperate," Vance explained. "One of the suspects then shot the patron in the chest area. He was conscious by the time we could arrive on the scene, and the bad guys had already fled."
Investigators have released descriptions of the two suspects, but said they have no hard leads at this time. Police are asking anyone with any information about the shooting to come forward. Detectives are searching for the two suspects.
The Connecticut shooting wasn't the sole example of PlayStation 3-related madness this week. Short supplies of the console and the enormous demand for it forced hundreds to wait in long lines — some, for days — to purchase the new console on its first day in stores.
The Associated Press reports that in Palmdale, California, police responded to a Super Wal-Mart on Wednesday after some shoppers allegedly became "rowdy." In West Bend, Wisconsin, a 19-year-old man was hurt when he ran into a pole while racing with 50 other people for one of 10 waiting spots outside a Wal-Mart. Police in Lexington, Kentucky, are investigating a drive-by shooting that injured four people, who were shot with BB pellets outside a Best Buy store. And according to the Sacramento Bee, two gunmen robbed an Elk Grove, California, store on Thursday, and made off with four PS3s; no one was injured in that incident.
