Black Friday shopping scene: Violence, deals, early start at stores

Tell us about your Black Friday experience. Where did you go, what did you buy and how were the lines?

Many stores opened their doors Thursday night to welcome Black Friday shoppers hunting for deals, so crowds were smaller this morning, reports say. The lines that typically stretch outside the door awaiting a 5 a.m. opening had queued up at 9 p.m. Thanksgiving Day or at midnight instead, thanks to the shops' early openings.

See these area reports:

• Shoppers line up for Black Friday deals [mcall.com]
• Black Friday frenzy hits N.J. [nj.com]
• Best Buy, Target draw largest lines for Poconos Black Friday [poconorecord.com]
• Up all night: Black Friday shoppers [philly.com]

For three days starting today, 152 million people are expected shop, up about 10 percent from 138 million last year, according to the National Retail Federation, the Associated Press reports.

Are you among the shoppers? What deals are you hunting down? Tell us where you went and what it was like in the comments below.

What's on sale? The Gap is offering discounts of 20 to 60 percent on many items. Old Navy has pea coats for $29 and jeans for $15. Toys R Us is selling a Transformers Ultimate Optimus Prime action figure for $30 off at $47.99 and a Power Wheels Barbie vehicle for $120 off at $199.99. And Best Buy has a $499 42-inch LCD HDTV for $199 and a $400 Asus Transformer 10-inch tablet computer for $249.99.
 
Incidents at a Wal-Mart in Los Angeles and a North Carolina mall required police and ambulance response, according to the following Associated Press reports.

Twenty people had minor injuries when a woman shot other customers with pepper spray during a Black Friday sale in California. Police Lt. Abel Parga says she was trying to keep other shoppers away from the merchandise she wanted. The incident occurred shortly after 10:20 p.m. Thursday in a crowded Los Angeles area Walmart as shoppers hungry for deals were let inside the store. Officials said 20 people suffered minor injuries. At least half of those were caused by crowd jostling after the spraying. Parga says police are still looking for the woman. The store remained open and those not affected by the pepper spray continued shopping.

Gunfire erupted at a North Carolina mall as holiday shoppers gathered, though there are no reports of any injuries. No evacuation was ordered, but several shoppers left the mall and some smaller stores closed. The Cumberland County Sheriff's Office says detectives are looking for two suspects after gunfire rang out near a food court entrance outside Cross Creek Mall in Fayetteville about 2 this morning. Investigators say several more shots were fired after one of the suspects ran inside the mall. Investigators say no one with gunshot wounds has shown up at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center.