San Jose Fire Department

This car drove into a San Joes, California WalMart Sunday morning, according to police. The driver then got out of the car and beat four customers with a blunt object.

A man drove a car into a San Jose Walmart, then grabbed a blunt object and began beating customers Sunday morning, police said.

Police said they received word that a car had driven into the Walmart at 777 Story Road at 11:15 a.m. on Sunday.

They said the driver then got out of the car, grabbed a blunt object from inside the store and began hitting people with it.

Four people were injured, one of them seriously.

Sources say a pregnant woman may be among the injured, all of whom were taken to the hospital.

The man accused of driving the car and assaulting the people was booked into county jail.

A suspected shoplifter died early Sunday after a confrontation with Walmart employees and a security guard in the store parking lot in Lithonia, Ga., WSBTV reported.

According to the DeKalb County, Ga., police report, officers arrived around 1:30 a.m. to find the employees on top of the middle-aged man, who reportedly was caught shoplifting two DVD players. When an officer placed the man in handcuffs, he noticed the man didn’t resist him. That’s when he realized the man was unconscious and bleeding from the nose and mouth, according to WSBTV.

Paramedics transported the man to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.  

Further investigation revealed that a “physical altercation” had taken place in the parking lot, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. One of the employees had reportedly placed the man in a choke hold. The cause of death, however, has not been determined.

Dianna Gee, a Walmart spokeswoman, released a statement Sunday saying that both employees had been placed on paid leave. She said the security guard would no longer provide services for the store.

“No amount of merchandise is worth someone’s life,” Gee said in the statement, according to the Journal-Constitution. “Associates are trained to disengage from situations that would put themselves or others at risk.”

More content from NBCNews.com:

• Tammy Duckworth: Congress won't be as bad as Iraq
• After Sandy's deluge, mold and dust are the threats
• Cops: Road rage theory in deadly Md. I-95 crash
• Military vets battle over who had it harder
• Three shooting victims found in Dallas motel room
• Video: Community rallies around teacher devastated by Sandy

Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

A think tank convened to gauge the financial well-being of “workplace warriors” says home-front job prospects remain “discouraging” for ex-service members, with many hiring managers seemingly scared off by the possibility that candidates have post-traumatic stress disorder.

For even casual watchers of the ex-military vocational plight, the larger conclusion is hardly striking: the “combat-to-corporate” path has long been paved with good intentions, but clogged by application dead ends. What’s more, the group’s downbeat assessment comes amid some rays of improvement. Last month, the unemployment rate for post-9/11 veterans finally nudged lower, to 9.7 percent, two full points below the jobless pace during than the same month in 2011, according to federal figures. 

But, the experts contend, too many American companies have failed to boost their own internal ranks of former troops, ignoring the military-friendly examples set by Walmart, the Hartford, Citi and several other businesses under the "hire our heroes" mantra.

"Few employers are fully prepared to meet the needs of disabled veterans in the workplace, according to research from Cornell University and the Society for Human Resources Management," think tank members wrote.  "... Nearly 20 percent of service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan screened positive for PTSD." (That reported military-PTSD rate has decreased during the past five years, Cornell scientists have found, noting the drop is due largely to interventions by the U.S. military.) 

The 2012 Workplace Warriors Think Tank, composed by business, military and health leaders, originally gathered in 2007 — before the Great Recession — to examine the same lag in ex-military hiring. Since then, the nation’s slow economic recovery has sidelined tens of thousands of veterans along with millions of other American workers. “But I’m sure, in the case of some employers, the economy is an excuse for them just to say ‘no’ to veterans,” said the report’s editor, Marcia Carruthers.

And while the think tank does see threads of tangible progress in the private sector, such as the 100,000 Jobs Mission, it added that: “The fruits of these efforts have yet to fully materialize. More needs to be done” to open opportunities for civilian soldiers and full-time military members.

In large part, that’s because just below the simple math of supply and demand, a dark group-psychology seems to be at play, Carruthers said. Battle-related mental illness — diagnosed in some returning veterans but apparently associated with all of them — is tainting many or most job-hunting veterans.

“The stigma of PTSD is at the top of the list,” said Carruthers, president and CEO of the Disability Management Employer Coalition, a nonprofit.

“These veterans are exactly the kinds of people you’d want to hire — they’re used to working as a team; they’re loyal; you give them an order and they follow through,” Carruthers said. “So some of this is related to the types of injuries we’re seeing — and, I would say, really, due to the fear of employers in terms of bringing back these people. If they were coming home with broken legs, it would be a different thing. There’s a fear factor.”

Among veteran-friendly companies with representatives on the think tank are insurance provider MetLife and technology consultant Booz Allen Hamilton. While some large U.S. companies are clearing space to bring veterans in house, it’s the “smaller organizations that often struggle,” Carruthers said.

“They don’t have many employees, and not many of their people have been deployed. They also may not have HR departments that are aggressively seeking diversity,” she added. “So it’s more the smaller organizations that are just not as aware of this issue — or that don’t feel they have the resources. But it’s small business that definitely make up our economy.” 

More content from NBCNews.com:

• Arizonans to vote on taking Grand Canyon from federal control
• Beard issue again delays military trial in Fort Hood shootings
• Home but not a 'resident': Student vets fighting to stay on GI Bill
• Body found in N.J. is that of missing 12-year-old girl, uncle says
• Pa. grandmother found dead, baby missing, police say
• Denied dream wedding site, lesbian couple files discrimination complaint

Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

KSBW

Samantha Tomasini told a judge she hopes that prison will help her overcome drug addiction.

A California woman who was once accused along with her ex-boyfriend of trying to sell their 8-month-old daughter in a Wal-Mart parking lot for $25 asked a judge to send her to prison instead of giving her probation, The Monterey County Herald reported. 

Samantha Tomasini, 22, told the judge Wednesday that her emotional issues and drug addiction have made it hard for her to stick with court-ordered treatment programs.

She said she would wind up violating any new probation, NBC station KSBW in Salinas reported. 

The judge agreed and sentenced her to four years in prison. She originally faced up to six years, The Herald reported. 

Tomasini and her ex-boyfriend, Patrick Fousek, made national headlines when they were accused of trying to sell the infant to strangers for $25 in June 2010.   

Defense attorneys said Fousek, 40, was only joking when he made the offer. 

The Herald reported that Tomasini admitted to child endangerment charges after police found the child living in unsanitary conditions at the couple's apartment. 

Fousek is serving a six-year prison sentence after being found guilty of felony child endangerment in the Wal-Mart incident, KSBW reported.

The Herald reported that the judge and Tomasini's lawyer, Steve Liner, agreed that she had been under Fousek's sway at the time of her arrest. 

Tomasini agreed to serve probation in a plea deal, but left a live-in drug treatment program and was re-arrested last year for violation of probation. She admitted to using heroin while on probation after kicking her methamphetamine addiction, the paper reported. 

"She's a hard fit" for many rehab programs, Tomasini's lawyer Steve Liner told the paper. "She decided she'd just rather serve the time." 

Watch US News crime videos on msnbc.com

The Herald reported that Tomasini testified in Fousek's trial that she started using drugs again when the baby was 7 months old. Prosecutors said that Fousek put the child at risk when he failed to stop Tomasini from breast feeding after resuming her drug habit.

Blood tests didn't show traces of the drug in the child, The Herald reported. 

Liner said Tomasini could be released in just 16 months with time already served in a county jail and good behavior, the newspaper reported. KSBW reported that Tomasini hopes that prison will help her get clean and "just move on."

KSBW reported that the couple's daughter is being raised by a foster family.

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Iran sanctions trip up both clerks and customers
• BMW misses parking spot, lands on Jaguar, Mercedes
• Alleged police impersonator busted pulling over actual cop
• $150,000 Salvador Dali painting stolen from art gallery
• Video: 10-year-old gets tattoo, grandpa gets in trouble

Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook

Dallas police are searching for a man who carjacked a woman and her baby Sunday afternoon after stealing from a nearby Walmart.

Police said the man stole a t-shirt from the store and then jumped into the woman's car in a Starbucks parking lot while police were chasing him.

For more visit NBCDFW.com.

The man didn't realize the woman and her 15-month-old daughter were sitting inside the vehicle, police said.

"I thought we were dead," Kari Kimbler said. "I thought he was going to take us somewhere and dump us off or kill us. I had no idea what was going to happen."

Kimbler said her husband had gone inside the Starbucks when the man jumped in the driver's seat and took off. She said he started driving erratically, going the wrong way down Cockrell Hill Road.

"I started hitting him and beating him and screaming, ‘My baby, my baby -- I have my baby. Please let us out. Please dump us out. I don't care where it is. Please let us out,'" Kimbler said.

She said the man initially refused.

"Then momma bear kicked, and all I could think was, 'I've got to protect my baby with all that I have,' and it came out, and I just beat the living daylights out of him as hard as I could -- in his head, just punching in his head, and she was screaming too," Kimbler said.

Kimbler said the man stopped underneath a bridge after five minutes.

"He did pull over," she said. "But as I was getting her out, he pushed us out to get us out and just kept going."

Kimbler said she can breathe easier now that she and her baby are home and safe. But she said the fear of what could have happened is still with her.

"I've told all of my loved ones how much I love them," she said. "And I hug my daughter tighter, and I told her tighter, and I tell her how much mommy and daddy love her."

"I'm just so thankful she and I got out alive," Kimbler said.

Dallas police described the man as Latino, approximately 5-foot-9-inches tall, in his early 30s, who weighs about 185 pounds with a bald head and sleeves of tattoos on both arms. He was last seen wearing a gray Texas Longhorns hat, khaki shorts and a dark-colored shirt.

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• No charge for man who killed daughter's molester
• Bridging the digital divide in America's rural schools
• Record heat forecast for Northeast
• Sandusky's wife testifies she never heard or saw evidence of abuse
• Fort Hood shooting suspect barred from court for beard
• Video: Vandal seen spray-painting Picasso painting

Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook

A suspected shoplifter died at a Southern California Walmart store last Friday after fighting with store security workers who caught him in the parking lot, police said.

The man's name was not available as of Sunday because his family had yet to be notified, Lt. Joe Bale of the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

Police found the suspect restrained by security workers and appearing to need medical attention, Covina police Lt. Holly Francisco told The Associated Press.

"While being detained in the parking lot, the suspect began fighting with the loss prevention personnel," Deputy Peter Gomez of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's bureau said in a written statement obtained by the Tribune.

"When the (police) officers arrived, the suspect was being restrained by loss prevention officers," Gomez said, according to the report. "The Covina police officers saw the suspect appeared to be in medical distress and called for paramedics to respond."

Police called paramedics, but the man was pronounced dead at the hospital. It was unclear whether his death was a result of the struggle or due to a pre-existent condition.

Police told the AP the man was accused of stealing clothing and body wash. An investigation that includes an autopsy and a review of surveillance video is under way to determine the cause of death.

Wal-Mart Stores spokeswoman Dianna Gee said in a statement that the security workers involved in the altercation are currently suspended pending the outcome of the investigation.

“Any time there’s a loss of life, it’s a sad situation," Gee's statement read. "We don’t know all of the facts right now, but we are cooperating with law enforcement and providing any information we have to assist in the investigation."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Routine traffic stop reveals toddler holding a handgun, Chicago police say
• California faces threat at sea from drug smugglers
• Jurors chosen in trial of ex-Penn State assistant coach Sandusky
• Video: Prodigy earns MD at age 21
• Army policy makes it difficult for soldiers to get service dogs

Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Police were searching Saturday for a gunman who shot a shot and killed a Walmart store employee during a robbery.

The victim, 47-year-old support manager Peter Marquez, was killed shortly after midnight Saturday at the west Phoenix Walmart Supercenter, The Associated Press reported.

Police spokesman Sgt. Tommy Thompson said two employees were collecting cash from the store's registers and placing it in a shopping cart when a man with a handgun came up. The gunman grabbed the cart and began pushing it out of the store as other employees were alerted to the robbery.

Marquez was outside with another employee and they ran to the front doors, Thompson said.  As they approached, the robber with the cart shot Marquez. The gunman escaped on foot, crossing a street and jumping a fence into a residential area, azcentral.com reported.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Task force hunts shooter in Tulsa killing spree
• 'Very fortunate': Nobody reported missing after Navy jet crash
• Teen student dumps ex-teacher after his arrest
• Texas teen to become first American to graduate from Bolshoi
• Cops: Dad dies after shielding son, 8, from bullets

Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook

A southeastern Pennsylvania man is behind bars after police say he walked naked into a Philadelphia-area Walmart and stole a pair of socks.

Verdon Lamont Taylor, 32, was arrested Wednesday night after police say he stripped off his clothes in the parking lot of the Exton store and went inside.

Police told local media outlets that surveillance footage shows the 6-foot-4, 300-pound Downingtown man walking around the store wearing nothing but a pair of socks he had stolen there. The video also shows shoppers avoiding Taylor.

 Authorities say they used a stun gun to subdue Taylor after he refused to comply with officers' orders and spat in an officer’s face.

Taylor was arraigned on charges including aggravated assault and indecent exposure, local media said. He's being held on $50,000 bail at Chester County Prison.

Online court records do not list an attorney for Taylor, according to The Associated Press.

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News

• Nigerian underwear bomber gets life sentence
• Interracial marriage: Your stories of the good, the bad and the ugly
• NYPD 'courtesy cards' for family, friends sold online
• It's not fracking's fault, study says
• Man wins $3.3 million in mistaken identity bank robbery case
• Schools in bankrupt city work to prove poverty is no barrier to success