90-Year-Old Had Run-in with Bear Inside Dollar General, Kept Shopping

Shoppers inside a Dollar General store in New Jersey caught an unusual sight earlier this week: a wandering 175-lb. black bear.

The Vernon Township Police Department said that around 1:39 p.m. local time on Tuesday, Sept. 16, they got a report about a bear in the area of the Dollar General in the McAfee area of Vernon Township. Upon their arrival, officers got the animal to leave the area.

However, at approximately 2:55 p.m., authorities received a 911 call from a Dollar General employee who said a bear was inside the store.

Two minutes later, police received a call from a business owner of a property next door who said the bear had attacked his dog and chased his two employees before going over to the other store.

Speaking with The New York Times, the owner of the store said that the bear “tackled my dog,” but didn’t bite or scratch his pet. 

“One-hundred-twenty percent, there was something wrong with this bear,” added Aaron Glading.

According to police, the Dollar General employee who remained on the line told police that the bear “made contact” with a 90-year-old woman, who was later taken to the hospital.

But, according to The New York Times, at first, she just kept on shopping.

Christine Flohr, who worked at a nearby cannabis shop, told the newspaper that she came by to see what was going on. After spotting the woman in the aisles, she tried to get her to leave.

“I told her, ‘There’s a bear in the store.’ She said, ‘I know, he swiped at me,’ ” Flohr told the outlet.

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Eventually, another customer who happened to be at the store guided the bear outside to the parking lot, which is where it remained when police arrived.

The bear then wandered into an adjacent property across the street and was eventually euthanized under New Jersey Fish and Wildlife’s response criteria for category 1 bears, in which the animals are considered a threat to public safety and property.

The Vernon Township Police said that New Jersey Fish and Wildlife responded and collected the bear, identified in news reports as weighing 175 lbs., for rabies testing that will take about 3-5 days to conduct. 

Video shared by The Garden State on Facebook showed the bear inside the Dollar General moving through the aisles and following the commands of a patron, identified as real estate agent Sean Clarkin, as he was trying to get the bear out of the store. 

“Let’s go, buddy,” Clarkin says in the clip, according to New Jersey 101.5. “This way. Keep coming. Come on buddy. Good boy!”

Clarkin told The New York Times that he had stopped by for cleaning supplies and that “getting the bear out of the store seemed like the thing to do.” 

“This bear was sick in some manner,” he added. “He was just like a really hung-over bear, trying to make it through the day.”

Clarkin did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.