T.J. Maxx shoppers maced by thief, company clams up
A suspected shoplifter sprayed at least nine people with a "mace-like substance" Wednesday at a T.J. Maxx in Oak Park Heights, reports the Stillwater Patch.
But no one at T.J. Maxx called T.J. Hooker, and the incident went unreported for 30 minutes, until a customer and her daughter showed up at an emergency room to be treated for illness related to the incident, the Patch reports.
“No call was placed by the store employees or manager on duty at the time of the incident,” Oak Park Heights Police Chief Brian DeRosier tells the Patch.
DeRosier said T.J. Maxx’s district loss prevention worker “refused to provide any information on the incident including video of the suspect.”
DeRosier was only told that similar incidents have been happening at other T.J. Maxx stores, and that the company is doing its own investigation “in hopes of putting together a large case,” according to the Star Tribune.
The police report obtained by the Start Tribune tells of nine people at the store Wednesday suffering the effects of what police believed to be mace or pepper spray: sneezing, coughing and irritation.
T.J. Maxx claims to be the leading off-price retailer of apparel and home fashions in the United States and worldwide.
