Shotgun wound no deterrent to PS3 buyer
Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 12:06 pm
November 28, 2006 7:51 AM PST
Despite a shotgun blast to the chest, Michael Penkala stayed focused being one of the first U.S. buyers of the new PlayStation 3.
In the early-morning hours of November 17, the Massachusetts resident was first in line at a Wal-Mart store in Putnam, Connecticut, waiting with three friends for Sony's next-generation game console to go on sale. In his pocket was $2,600 in cash.
Then the bandits showed up, masked and carrying guns. "They approached two kids first, and they got 75 cents out of them, and I was the third person they came to. And I wasn't giving it up for anything," Penkala told the Worcester (Mass.) Telegram & Gazette. That refusal earned him a beating as the robbers tried to get his wallet.
Penkala, who'd had the foresight to dial 911 on his cell phone, says he scared off the robbers, but one turned while fleeing and fired a single shot from about 10 feet away, according to the Telegram account. But he was a man with a mission.
"When they let us in the lobby there at Wal-Mart, I was on the floor coughing up blood and telling the workers to take the wallet out of my pocket and give it to my friends so they could continue waiting in line and purchase the PS3s," Penkala told the newspaper. "For some reason I wasn't thinking about my wound, I was all about those PlayStations."
What makes his dedication all the more remarkable was that he wasn't a fervent gamer looking for new thrills from the PS3. No, the 21-year-old was looking to resell the consoles on eBay--after eight days in the hospital, he ended up with four, including one given as a gift by Wal-Mart--and make a profit.
Despite a shotgun blast to the chest, Michael Penkala stayed focused being one of the first U.S. buyers of the new PlayStation 3.
In the early-morning hours of November 17, the Massachusetts resident was first in line at a Wal-Mart store in Putnam, Connecticut, waiting with three friends for Sony's next-generation game console to go on sale. In his pocket was $2,600 in cash.
Then the bandits showed up, masked and carrying guns. "They approached two kids first, and they got 75 cents out of them, and I was the third person they came to. And I wasn't giving it up for anything," Penkala told the Worcester (Mass.) Telegram & Gazette. That refusal earned him a beating as the robbers tried to get his wallet.
Penkala, who'd had the foresight to dial 911 on his cell phone, says he scared off the robbers, but one turned while fleeing and fired a single shot from about 10 feet away, according to the Telegram account. But he was a man with a mission.
"When they let us in the lobby there at Wal-Mart, I was on the floor coughing up blood and telling the workers to take the wallet out of my pocket and give it to my friends so they could continue waiting in line and purchase the PS3s," Penkala told the newspaper. "For some reason I wasn't thinking about my wound, I was all about those PlayStations."
What makes his dedication all the more remarkable was that he wasn't a fervent gamer looking for new thrills from the PS3. No, the 21-year-old was looking to resell the consoles on eBay--after eight days in the hospital, he ended up with four, including one given as a gift by Wal-Mart--and make a profit.
If there was no reserve thye would be screwed.