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Mob Of Hundreds Rush Orlando Mall For 16 PlayStation 3 Consoles
Police Forced To Call For Backup; Shoppers Escorted To Safety
UPDATED: 1:33 pm EST November 17, 2006
ORLANDO, Fla. -- A crowd of as many as 600 people who rushed the front doors of a Central Florida mall to get one of 16 available Playstation 3 game consoles became so unruly that the group who received the devices had to be escorted out of the area by officers, according to Local 6 News.
Hundreds of Central Floridians were told Thursday that they could not camp out at the popular Mall at Millenia for the PlayStation 3. So, when mall doors opened Friday, there was a mad rush of hundreds.
"At one point, police had to call for backup," Local 6's Jessica Sanchez said. "The problem was the Mall at Millenia did not allow people to camp out overnight. That is why there was such a rush for the doors this morning. That Mall at Millenia was not expecting this."
"There is definitely an underlying mob mentality going on," gamer Russ Cowan said.
"I've been circling around since like maybe 11 p.m. last night," shopper Matt Bullen said. "People were (hiding) in the bushes and people were hiding under the dock. This is chaos, man."
The hundreds of people who rushed to the front of the mall were not aware that there were just 16 game consoles available.
"A huge crowd of people just slammed everybody into the wall," Michael Williams said.
Security guards rounded up the 16 people in line and eventually escorted them into the building to receive their PlayStation 3.
A security guard said when they were rounding up the 16 people, he pointed to three boys and said, "Get over here" to get your game console. He told Sanchez that the boys apparently thought they were in trouble and fled.
A local shopper reported that he was robbed of his PlayStation 3 Thursday. Police are investigating.
Police Forced To Call For Backup; Shoppers Escorted To Safety
UPDATED: 1:33 pm EST November 17, 2006
ORLANDO, Fla. -- A crowd of as many as 600 people who rushed the front doors of a Central Florida mall to get one of 16 available Playstation 3 game consoles became so unruly that the group who received the devices had to be escorted out of the area by officers, according to Local 6 News.
Hundreds of Central Floridians were told Thursday that they could not camp out at the popular Mall at Millenia for the PlayStation 3. So, when mall doors opened Friday, there was a mad rush of hundreds.
"At one point, police had to call for backup," Local 6's Jessica Sanchez said. "The problem was the Mall at Millenia did not allow people to camp out overnight. That is why there was such a rush for the doors this morning. That Mall at Millenia was not expecting this."
"There is definitely an underlying mob mentality going on," gamer Russ Cowan said.
"I've been circling around since like maybe 11 p.m. last night," shopper Matt Bullen said. "People were (hiding) in the bushes and people were hiding under the dock. This is chaos, man."
The hundreds of people who rushed to the front of the mall were not aware that there were just 16 game consoles available.
"A huge crowd of people just slammed everybody into the wall," Michael Williams said.
Security guards rounded up the 16 people in line and eventually escorted them into the building to receive their PlayStation 3.
A security guard said when they were rounding up the 16 people, he pointed to three boys and said, "Get over here" to get your game console. He told Sanchez that the boys apparently thought they were in trouble and fled.
A local shopper reported that he was robbed of his PlayStation 3 Thursday. Police are investigating.