Early Friday morning, when the holiday shopping season was officially kicked off after Thanksgiving Day, a Wal-Mart employee in the suburbs of New York City died after he was trampled over by shoppers who broke down the store’s doors and began a wild chase for discounts and bargains.

At 4.55 a.m, only five minutes before the store was set to open, approximately 2,000 people piled against the doors and tore them down, according to Nassau County police.

After the employee, who was standing in the entryway along with fellow colleagues, was knocked down, the crowd kept jostling and pushing each other around and nobody stopped to help the man.

The 34-year-old employee, who was not identified, worked at the Wal-Mart at the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, New York. After the throngs of shoppers toppled him, he was taken to Franklin Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 6.03 a.m.

Authorities revealed that three shoppers had been injured during the same incident, while an eight months pregnant 28-year-old woman was also taken to the hospital to be kept under observation.

People started lining up outside the Wal-Mart store as early as 9 p.m. on Thursday, the crowd having built up over the night, filling the entire sidewalk.

Even though police were called to the scene to organize the throngs of customers at 3.30 a.m., they had to attend to other crowds outside a Circuit City, a Best Buy and a B.J.’s Wholesale Club stores in the area.