Air Jordans create unrest

Staff/wire report

BOARDMAN

About 30 people turned the front gates of the Foot Locker store in the Southern Park Mall into a dangerous place Friday morning, as the store prepared to open for the day.

The shoppers were there to buy a pair of Nike Air Jordan basketball shoes, but only a handful of pairs were available.

Store employees called the Boardman Police Department for help at 6:24 a.m. because they were afraid to open the gates, a dispatcher for Boardman police said.

Officers responded to the store to quiet down the crowd and to take the shoes from the store and secure them at the Boardman Police Department. No injuries were reported.

Store personnel were able to hand out tickets to the shoppers that determined who would be able to buy the shoes, the dispatcher said.

With the situation diffused, employees came to the police station later and retrieved the shoes and sold them to the individuals with the appropriate ticket.

The store didn’t call back, so it appears there were no further problems, the dispatcher said. A store employee contacted Friday night by The Vindicator said he could not comment.

Similar scenes played out around the country as the retro model of one of the most popular Air Jordans ever made were made available to consumers.

The mayhem stretched from Washington state to Georgia and was reminiscent of the violence that broke out 20 years ago in many cities as the shoes became popular targets for thieves. It also had a decidedly Black Friday feel as huge crowds of shoppers overwhelmed stores for a must-have item.

In suburban Seattle, police used pepper spray on about 20 customers who started fighting at the Westfield Southcenter mall. The crowd started gathering at four stores in the mall around midnight and had grown to more than 1,000 people by 4 a.m., when the stores opened, Tukwila officer Mike Murphy said. He said it started as fighting and pushing among people in line and escalated over the next hour.

Murphy said no injuries were reported, although some people suffered cuts or scrapes from fights. Shoppers also broke two doors, and an 18-year-old man was arrested for assault after authorities say he punched an officer.

“He did not get his shoes; he went to jail,” Murphy said.

The $180 shoes went on sale Friday in a limited release at stores, and the lines began forming several hours before businesses opened.

As the crowds kept growing through the night, they became more unruly and ended in vandalism, violence and arrests.

A man was stabbed when a brawl broke out between several people waiting in line at a Jersey City, N.J., mall to buy the new shoes, authorities said. The 20-year-old man was expected to recover from his injuries.

In Georgia, officers said they had to break a car window to get two toddlers out after a woman went in after the shoes. They said she was taken into custody when she returned to the car.

In Richmond, Calif., police say crowds waiting to buy the Air Jordan 11 Retro Concords at the Hilltop Mall were turned away after a gunshot rang out around 7 a.m.

No injuries were reported, but police said a 24-year-old suspect was taken into custody. The gun apparently went off inadvertently, the Contra Costa Times reported.

The frenzy over Air Jordans has been dangerous in the past. Some people were mugged or even killed for early versions of the shoe, created by Nike Inc. in 1984.

The Air Jordan has since been a consistent hit with sneaker fans, spawning a subculture of collectors.