Bay Area man stabbed after confrontation over Pokémon cards. Two suspects arrested
On Saturday morning, Colma, Calif., police responded to reports of a physical altercation between multiple individuals outside a GameStop store on Junipero Serra Boulevard, according to a news release. When officers arrived at the scene, they discovered a male victim with life-threatening head lacerations and stab wounds. He was immediately taken to a hospital, where he is in stable condition, the release said. The victim was not identified by police.
Two men, Isaiah Calles, 27, and Miguel OrellanasFlores, 49, were later arrested on suspicion of attacking the victim after OrellanasFlores allegedly cut in line for customers waiting to buy Pokémon cards, police said. Police allege that OrellanasFlores struck the victim with a mason jar and Calles used the broken glass to stab the victim multiple times.
The victim captured photos of the suspects' license plates before they fled in separate vehicles, which led to the arrests, police said.
Footage obtained by KRON appears to show one suspect trying to keep the other suspect and the victim apart as they verbally confronted one another. One suspect pushed the victim back with his hand, which spurred a physical altercation that escalated with the two suspects piling on the victim.
Read more: From fatwas to 'Fortnite': Saudi Arabia's $38-billion play to rule esports
Altercations over Pokémon cards — which can net resellers thousands in profit — have been an issue for retailers before. Target temporarily stopped selling the cards in stores in 2021 after four men assaulted another in Wisconsin and another fight broke out over the cards at the Atwater Village Costco early this year.
Although the Japanese trading card game is usually seen as a children's hobby, many resellers have reaped the benefits of selling to adult collectors who will shell out hundreds of thousands for particularly rare cards. Many hobbyists on online forums say the root cause of the increase in violence at stores and on the day of restocks or releases are 'scalpers' — individuals who buy up shelfloads of cards to resell them at a steep profit.
'Was only a matter of time,' a Reddit user said in reference to the Colma incident. 'Fights and scuffles (that haven't gone super viral on social media) have become increasingly common in recent months… Especially when money is involved and people become aggrieved at others 'taking' their income.'
OrrelanasFlores and Calles were arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, battery with serious bodily injury and conspiracy to commit a crime, the release said. Both were booked into the San Mateo County Jail
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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