Shopper identified after dropping dead in supermarket bakery aisle — before store’s outrageous act

The identity of the shopper who dropped dead inside a Los Angeles-area supermarket and was left in the bakery aisle for hours as the store remained open has been revealed.

John Lewis died inside a Vons grocery store in Granada Hills on July 5, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s office confirmed to The California Post. No other information was immediately available.

Despite the grim scene, management continued serving shoppers as Lewis remained dead in the aisle for four hours, CBS LA reported.

Store employee Paszion Horner-Smith — who was working as a supervisor when the customer suffered a medical emergency — said management even attempted to hide the body by blocking it from view with shopping carts while business continued as usual.

“How can anybody do that?” Horner-Smith told CBS LA. “I mean the lack of empathy is just horrible. It is horrific.”

Horner-Smith said she and another employee tried to give Lewis CPR as he lay dying. 

Horner-Smith said she then got a call from her corporate managers, who saw Lewis lying on the floor in a surveillance video. They told her that staff needed to block the body with shopping carts.

“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 said.

The shocking incident dragged on for four hours as the victim’s grieving family members were told to wait inside the store for mortuary workers to arrive, according to Horner-Smith.

“Poor family that’s just sitting there. They can’t even see their loved one,” she said.

“They can’t touch their loved one. They sat in the store for four hours while people continued to shop around their deceased loved one.”

A spokesperson for Vons parent company, Albertson’s, said it was “saddened by this tragic situation, and our thoughts are with the individual’s family and loved ones.”

“Our team contacted emergency responders and supported first responders as they attended to the medical emergency, as well as local police who remained present,” the company said in a statement to The California Post.

“We work closely with emergency responders and law enforcement to evaluate each situation based on the circumstances present,” the company added.

The company said no further details would be shared, out of respect for Lewis and his family.

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