The Most Appalling Black Friday Deaths That Have Occurred Amid America’s Annual Shopping Frenzy

Published October 25, 2018
Updated October 20, 2022

Black Friday Deaths: A North Carolina Teen Dies At The Wheel

Eager Shoppers

Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagesOvereager Black Friday shoppers.

In the same manner as the aforementioned car crash, a teenager in North Carolina also, unfortunately, lost his life behind the wheel on Black Friday.

Patrick Henry Boyd, 19, of Clover, South Carolina was killed after apparently falling asleep at the wheel while returning home from Black Friday shopping.

At the time of the crash, there were four other passengers in the car, and all of them were reportedly asleep at the time of the single-vehicle accident.

The other four passengers were taken to a nearby hospital and two of them suffered serious injuries. One of the passengers had reportedly said that he remembered Boyd mention that he was tired prior to the crash.

It would be the sixth time that an instance of Black Friday deaths reared its ugly head.

A Shopper Opens Fire Over A Spot In A Reno Walmart Parking Lot

A man in Reno, Nevada reportedly pulled a gun during a fight over a parking spot at a Walmart. The victim was gunned down at 6:05 p.m.

The shooter was licensed to carry a weapon, per police reports, and was released after his arrest. Authorities confirmed that the incident was road-rage related.

“It looks as if it was some sort of road rage incident, we don’t have any other information that it was linked to any shopping activities or anything like that at this point,” said Lt. Scott Shaw of the Reno Police Department.

Although police said that they weren’t sure if the altercation was directly linked to the Black Friday shopping event that was going on at the Walmart, it’s pretty clear that both parties were there to participate in the sale.

Police say that both the victim and the suspect were armed at the time. “Law enforcement responded to the scene, and we’ll support them with their investigation as needed,” said a Walmart spokesperson.

The fatal shooting marked the seventh in Black Friday deaths.

author
Bernadette Deron
author
Bernadette Deron is a digital media producer and writer from New York City who holds a Master's in publishing from New York University. Her work has appeared in Yahoo, MSN, AOL, and Insider.
editor
John Kuroski
editor
John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.