KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana News Weather
KSLA 12 News
MANSFIELD, LA (KSLA) – Shelves in Walmart stores in Springhill and Mansfield, LA were reportedly cleared Saturday night, when the stores allowed purchases on EBT cards even though they were not showing limits.
The chaos that followed ultimately required intervention from local police, and left behind numerous carts filled to overflowing, apparently abandoned when the glitch-spurred shopping frenzy ended.
Springhill Police Chief Will Lynd confirms they were called in to help the employees at Walmart because there were so many people clearing off the shelves. He says Walmart was so packed, “It was worse than any black Friday” that he’s ever seen.
Lynd explained the cards weren’t showing limits and they called corporate Walmart, whose spokesman said to let the people use the cards anyway. From 7 to 9 p.m., people were loading up their carts, but when the cards began showing limits again around 9, one woman was detained because she rang up a bill of $700.00 and only had .49 on her card. She was held by police until corporate Walmart said they wouldn’t press charges if she left the food.
Lynd says at 9 p.m., when the cards came back online and it was announced over the loud speaker, people just left their carts full of food in the aisles and left.
“Just about everything is gone, I’ve never seen it in that condition,” said Mansfield Walmart customer Anthony Fuller.
Walmart employees could still be seen putting food from the carts away as late as Sunday afternoon. “I was just thinking, I’m so glad my mom doesn’t work here [Walmart] anymore, that’s the only thing I could think about, those employees working, that would have to restock all that stuff,” said O.J Evans who took cell phone video of the overflowing shopping carts at the Mansfield Walmart.
Evans believes it was natural human reaction that led people to fill up their carts during the glitch, but Walmart shoppers Stan and Judy Garcia feel very differently. “That’s plain theft, that’s stealing that’s all I got to say about it,” said Garcia.
Lynd says contrary to rumors, nobody was unruly or arrested and they were mainly there to help prevent shoplifting and theft.
A dispatcher for Mansfield police also confirms officers were called in for crowd control at the Mansfield Walmart. She said the shelves were cleared out, forcing Walmart to stop selling food at 9 p.m. There were no arrests.
There was, however, a huge mess left behind. Pictures and videos obtained by KSLA News 12 show aisles packed with shoppers emptying the shelves in Springhill. Another video shows what appear to be at least dozens of overflowing carts left abandoned in the aisles at the Mansfield store, against the backdrop of emptied shelves in the meat department.
It all happened at the end of a day in which the EBT system went down in several states, including Louisiana. Xerox, a vendor for the EBT system, experienced a power outage while conducting a routine backup test in one of the company’s locations. While the system was back up Saturday night, it appears that it was not functioning entirely properly in some areas.
Kayla Whaling, a spokesperson for Walmart, tells KSLA News 12 that the company was “fully engaged and monitoring the situation and transactions during the outage.”
“We did make the decision to continue to accept EBT cards (and purchases on WIC and SNAP) during the outage so that they could get food for their families.”
Asked whether Walmart would be taking the loss on any food purchased on the cards that did not show limits, or on the perishable food left behind in carts, Whaling would only say that “we monitored transactions during the outage.”
A spokesperson for the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services says they take all allegations of potential fraud seriously, they are aware of the reports and they will be investigating.
http://www.ksla.com/story/23679489/walmart-shelves-in-springhill-mansfield-cleared-in-ebt-glitch
They should have emptied the cash registers too.
LOL Nice.
Good one, JR.
Same thing happened at the Wal-Mart North Las Vegas, NV store yesterday, I personally saw it happen.
I’m ashamed to be part of the same race. These Walmart customers have no moral compass and that is the problem we face in society today. If all Walmarts spontaneously combusted it would be a better world.
That’s right Millard
Countries such as Germany, Italy, India and Russia refused Wal-Mart entry. Their culture wouldn’t allow it. Smart
Without Wal Mart, China would be nothing. Wal-Mart was used to systematically ruin our country. This one store chain has devastated us. It was a planned invasion.
I will not set foot in any walmart. My son worked there for a short time. He ate a chicken strip from their deli and they had him arrested. (he did steal it and I did set him straight about it) But, he now has a theft on his record for eating a chicken strip. Plus, I do my best not to support china.
I believe the ebt card issues this weekend were a test run. They are watching to see how much chaos they can create. Watch what happens when the cards go down and NEVER work again or the welfare checks stop coming. People will be in the streets. It will make the LA riots look like nothing.
I’m thinking that these food cards, (making billions for JP Morgan by the way), are there to STOP the poor from rioting and eating the rich. The govt. doesn’t need any test runs to prove that hungry people will riot. They already know that from past experience. So, the question is: Do they WANT a riot? And if so, why? Maybe Foehammer is correct in that it could create a temporary diversion/distraction. ??
Look how quick the word got out that the cards had no limit. They could have a nation wide EBT riot going in a matter of a couple of hours with the way everyone is connected now. I agree, the question would be why. There are so many possibilities that it makes my head spin. They have proven that they want chaos. It is just a matter of when and what the event will be.
Be ready for anything and everything.
@Bulldog I agree seems like a test run, and I think TPTB are counting on the riots to cover the looting they will be doing.
Those empty shelves were a good visual of what stores will look like when the dollar collapses.
he now has a theft on his record for eating a chicken strip.:
REMEMBER RUMSFELD STILL CANNOT ACCOUNT FOR 2.3T
Plus, I do my best not to support china.:
THE GOV ON THE OTHER HAND
A taste of things to come. Imagine the same, but w/o the cards and starving shoppers, packing guns and wanting food.
I’ve been a total of 5 times – once to see if they still sold guns there, once in an emergency camping in Sequoia National forest, once with a girl who wanted to go, and two different ones one time looking for a particular speaker for my laptop (the volume on it is my only complaint), but both were out of it. I ended up getting a better one at Target anyway.
Never again.
Screw Wallyworld.