While Thanksgiving can be stressful in its own right, it used to be more like the calm before the storm compared to Black Friday. In the years before online shopping did away with much of the rush of brick-and-mortar Christmas shopping, folks would start lining up outside stores as soon as they’d cleared the turkey and pie from their dinner plate — and it often got heated enough to make headlines.
In San Antonio, one incident broke out at the Sears at South Park Mall in 2012. Police were dispatched to the store around 9 p.m. on the evening of Thanksgiving, and the story goes like this: 33-year-old Jose Alonzo Salame told police he was cut in line and then punched in the face by 35-year-old Alejandro Alex. After being punched, Salame reportedly pulled out a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun, though he did not fire it. The weapon was confiscated by the police.
It all happened about an hour after Sears opened its doors to shoppers. Police later said Salame was “within his rights” to show his weapon and did not break the law since he reportedly showed proof of a concealed handgun license (which is no longer required by Texas law). He told police he displayed the weapon in defense because he feared further confrontation and injury. Another shopper, Roger Rivera, noted that folks started “tumbling over things, dropping boxes” when the gun was pulled and recalled Alex hiding behind a refrigerator before fleeing the store. He said shopping stopped for about 10 minutes…