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Published 11:35 13 Jul 2026 GMT
A supermarket employee has spoken out after claiming she was instructed by a manager to keep the store open and conceal a customer's body following a fatal medical emergency.
The incident happened on July 5 at a Vons supermarket in Granada Hills, Los Angeles, where a shopper died after suffering a fatal medical emergency in the store's bakery aisle.
Store supervisor Paszion Horner-Smith told CBS Los Angeles that she and another employee attempted CPR, but despite their efforts, the customer could not be saved.
The Los Angeles Fire Department responded to reports of a cardiac arrest shortly after 7:00PM.
Reflecting on the ordeal, Horner-Smith said: "It's just something I've never, ever in my 27 years that I've worked for the company, ever encountered or dealt with."
According to Horner-Smith, while emergency crews were at the scene, she received a call from a corporate manager who had been monitoring the store's security cameras.
She claims she was instructed not to close the supermarket but instead to shield the deceased customer from view.
"I'm being called by someone in corporate because they're looking at the cameras, telling me that I need to barricade the body by using carts," she alleged.
Horner-Smith also said the customer's family remained inside the store for around four hours while waiting for a mortuary team to arrive.
During that time, she claims, they were unable to stay with their loved one as customers continued shopping nearby.
"They sat in the store for four hours while people continued to shop around their deceased loved one," she said.
Questioning the decision, Horner-Smith added: "How can anybody do that? I mean the lack of empathy is just horrible. It is horrific."
The supervisor said the experience left her so shaken that she took a week away from work to recover.
She is now calling on the retailer to introduce a clear policy for handling deaths in stores, urging the company to "do better."
Albertsons, the parent company of Vons, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
