Authorities say a Bay Area man was stabbed over the weekend after arguing over a line of retailers who had been refilling Pokemon cards.
Police responded to reports of physical altercations between multiple individuals outside Junipero Serra Boulevard’s GameStop store on Saturday morning in Colma, California, according to a news release. When officers arrived at the scene, they found the male victim with a life-threatening head laceration and stab wound. He was immediately taken to the hospital, where he was in stable condition, Release said. The victim was not identified by police.
Isaiah Coles, 27, and 49-year-old Miguel Orellanas Flores were later arrested on suspicion of attacking the victim after Orellanas Flores was said to have lined up for a customer waiting to buy a Pokemon card, police said. Police alleged that Orellanasflores attacked the victim with a mason bottle, and Calles used broken glass to stab the victim multiple times.
The victim took a photo of the suspect’s license plate before he escaped from separate vehicles, leading to his arrest, police said.
The footage obtained by Kron appears to show suspects separated when one suspect is facing another verbally with each other. One suspect pushed the victim back with his hand.
A bickering over Pokemon cards – Online resellers can earn thousands of profits, but previously it was a problem for retailers. Target temporarily halted card sales in stores in 2021 after four men assaulted another man in Wisconsin and another fight broke out at Atwater Village Costco earlier this year.
While Japanese trading card games are usually considered children’s hobby, many resellers enjoy the benefits of selling to adult collectors who fire hundreds of thousands of people, especially for unusual cards. Many online forum enthusiasts say they are the root cause of the rise in violence in stores and “scalpers” on the day of refill or release.
“It was just a matter of time,” a Reddit user said in connection with the Colma incident. “Fightings and brawls (which aren’t very viral on social media) have become more and more common in recent months, especially when money is involved and people struggle with others taking their income.”
Orrelanasflores and Calles have been arrested on suspicion of fatal weapons, a seriously injured battery and assault in a conspiracy to commit a crime, the announcement said. Both were booked at San Mateo County Jail
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