After offering to pay for people’s purchases up to five-hundred dollars, a woman claiming to be a lottery winner caused a riot at an Ohio Burlington Coat Factory when it turned out she didn’t actually win. She showed up in a rented stretch Hummer and offered to pay for up five-hundred dollars worth of merchandise to anybody at the store. Hundreds of people tried to take advantage of the offer, and when they figured out they weren’t getting anything, they end up trashing the store and stealing tons of stuff, anyway.
Linda Brown was arrested Tuesday after an hours-long shopping spree that began when she hired a stretch Hummer limousine to drop her off at a Burlington Coat Factory store, police Sgt. Lt. Michael Deakins said. Brown walked to a cash register and loudly announced she had won the lottery and would pay for each person’s merchandise up to $500, he said.By the time employees realized Brown didn’t have any cash to pay, police said, she already had taken off in the limo.
That’s when angry customers, realizing they weren’t getting free coats, began throwing merchandise on the floor and grabbing clothes without paying for them, Nace said.
“Everybody was like, ‘I still want my free stuff,’ and that started the riot,” he said. “It looks like (Hurricane) Katrina went through the store.”
I would love to know what the woman was thinking and if she thought this would turn out any way but horribly.
[ MSNBC ]