A violent altercation broke out at a California GameStop on July 5 after a man reportedly tried cutting in line to buy Pokémon cards. The Colma Police Department says that it found "one victim with lacerations to the head and multiple stab wounds" outside of the store on 4929 Junipero Serra Boulevard. The attacked man was taken to hospital with "life threatening injuries" but is apparently in stable condition.
According to a police report shared via Facebook on July 6, officers at the scene were told that the victim had been involved in an altercation with two other men. The two suspects had fled, but they were later apprehended and identified as 27-year-old Isaiah Calles and 49-year-old Miguel OrellanasFlores.
"Officers later determined a verbal argument occurred between the victim and OrellanasFlores after OrellanasFlores tried to cut in line to buy Pokémon cards", the report states. "The argument turned physical when OrellanasFlores struck the victim in the back of the head with a glass mason jar." "The second male, Calles, then grabbed the broken shards of glass of the mason jar and began to stab the victim multiple times."
Both named men have reportedly been arrested for assault with a deadly weapon, assault with a deadly weapon causing great bodily injury, battery with serious bodily injury, and conspiracy to commit a crime. Wargamer has reached out to GameStop for comment on the incident, and this story will be updated when we receive a reply.
The Pokémon TCG has seen a meteoric rise in popularity in the past five years, and with this has come a number of Pokémon-related incidents and crimes. The internet is replete with videos claiming to show scalpers and shoppers fighting over Pokémon sets, and thieves have been reported stealing $10,000 or even $340,000 worth of Pokémon cards.
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