Black Friday violence: 2 shot in armed robberies, 15 others pepper-sprayed

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Violence erupted at Black Friday sales across the U.S. with one bargain-hunter left critically injured after being shot during a robbery and 15 other people injured when an angry shopper used pepper spray.

Several of the incidents took place at Wal-Mart stores as millions of Americans loaded up on holiday purchases.

Updated 10:39 a.m. ET: Police said they were investigating a possible shooting in the parking lot of Valley West Mall in West Des Moines, Iowa, NBC station WHO reported. There was no immediate report that anyone was injured.

Police got a call of shots fired shortly before 4 a.m., when the mall opened. They wouldn't say whether they had a suspect, and they reassured shoppers that the mall is safe..

Updated 9:50 a.m. ET: A 55-year-old shopper was shot and wounded during a robbery near a Wal-Mart in Myrtle Beach, S.C., NBC station WMBF reported.

Tonia Robbins, 55, was shot in the foot after two men demanded her purse shortly after 1 a.m. ET Friday as she stood by the trunk of her car with friends.

Updated 9:45 a.m. ET: An explosive device was found at a break room at a Wal-Mart in Cave Creek, Ariz., according to reports Friday.  

Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said a suspicious package was found inside a refrigerator in the store break room on Thursday. The store was evacuated as a precaution while deputies investigated the package.

Updated at 9:40 a.m. ET: A Black Friday shopper was shot and critically injured during a robbery outisde a Wal-Mart in San Leandro, Calif., early Friday, police said.

Police patrolling the parking lot found a victim suffering a gunshot wound and a possible suspect being detained by family members of the victim.

Police said the victims were walking to their car with their purchases and were approached by multiple suspects who demanded the merchandise.

A fight ensued and one suspect pulled out a gun and shot one of the victims. Some of the victims wrestled down one suspect as the other suspect fled the scene.

The victim who was shot is in critical but stable condition at a local hospital. The suspect in custody is an adult male in his mid '20s, but it is not known if he was the shooter.

Updated at 7.30 a.m. ET: An angry woman used pepper spray when Black Friday bargain-hunters tried to cut in line at a crowded Wal-Mart store in Los Angeles late Thursday, leaving 15 people with minor injuries. The incident occurred shortly after 10:20 p.m. PT (1:20 a.m. ET Friday) in the San Fernando Valley as shoppers looking for deals were let inside the outlet.

Despite a lagging economy and high unemployment rates, shoppers made a mad dash to stores this Black Friday even inciting moments of violence among bargain hunters this holiday season.

Early reports suggest that bigger crowds were found at the nations malls and stores as retailers like Macy’s and Target opened their doors at Midnight.

It what seems to be a burgeoning Black Friday tradition, some reports of violence erupted throughout the country.

Authorities in Los Angeles say that 20 people suffered minor injuries at a local Walmart when a woman used pepper spray on them to get to the front of the line when the store opened Thursday evening.

Police in Fayetteville, N.C. are hunting for two suspects after gunfire went off early Friday in the Cross Creek Mall.

At a Walmart in upstate New York, a man was arrested after two women were injured in a fight that broke out.

In Phoenix, television station KSAZ reported that a grandfather was roughed up by police after he put a game in his waistband to free up his hands to lift his grandson above the crowd.  He was slammed to the ground by cops, who likely assumed that he was shoplifting.

Adding to that, some Occupy Wall Street protesters, which turned up for the Macy's midnight opening, are expected to plan flash mobs and other events later in the day in places like Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Boise, Idaho to urge people to reconsider shopping at national chains on Black Friday.

The incidents come as a record number of shoppers are expected to head out to stores across the country this weekend to take advantage of discounts of up to 70 percent. For three days starting on Black Friday, 152 million people are expected shop, up about 10 percent from last year, according to the National Retail Federation.

Indeed, about 600 shoppers were in line at a Target store in Brooklyn in New York when it opened at midnight. By the time it opened at midnight, nearly 2,000 shoppers wrapped around a Best Buy store in St. Petersburg, Fla. Mall of America, the nation's largest mall in North America, had 15,000 shoppers for its midnight opening. And more than 9,000 people were outside the flagship Macy's store in New York's Herald Square at its midnight opening, up from 7,000 a year ago.