In a now-viral TikTok, a Walmart worker expressed confusion over the tragic death of a fellow 19-year-old employee who perished inside one of the store’s walk-in ovens.
User @chrisbreezie559 posted the video to her TikTok earlier this week. “In regards to the Walmart employee that was cooked alive, while on the clock,” she wrote in the text overlay. In her video, @chrisbreezie559 proceeded to show viewers how difficult it would be for a worker to accidentally lock themselves in the store’s ovens.
“There is no way possible [that] somebody could lock themselves in there,” @chrisbreezie559 said. As of Thursday, her video had amassed more than 27.4 million views.
What happened to the Walmart worker?
According to the Daily Mail, one of the many outlets that reported the tragedy, worker Gursimran Kaur became stuck in the store’s oven. She worked at a Walmart location in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Kaur’s “charred remains” were apparently found by her mother, another employee at the same Walmart location. The Daily Mail reported that Kaur’s mother spent more than an hour looking for her on the shop floor before eventually locating her body.
“The mom is shattered. She’s psychologically in pain, agony,” Maritime Sikh Society secretary Balbir Singh told CTV News. “She definitely needs help and support.”
According to recent reporting on the matter, Kaur’s remains have not yet been released by the medical examiner’s office. Officials have also not formally released any details about her cause of death, and an investigation is underway.
In a statement to PEOPLE on Wednesday, Oct. 23 a Walmart spokesperson said that staff were “heartbroken” and that the store was closed “until further notice.”
“Our deepest thoughts are with our associate and their family,” the spokesperson said. “Our focus remains on taking care of our associates and making sure they have the support they need. As police have stated, this is a very complex matter and the investigation is ongoing.”
Walmart workers cast doubt on shocking story
In her video, @chrisbreezie559 showed viewers what the store’s oven looks like. She explained that it turns on from the outside and, to open the oven, you have to “pull it really hard.”
After opening the oven, she showed viewers the inside of it.
“The oven is really hot right now,” @chrisbreezie559 said. “I don’t even know if I would fit in here, honestly.”
The employee clarified that she’s 5’1” with a “medium build”
“I would have to crouch down to get in,” she added.
It’s possible that someone could get stuck in there and not be able to get help, though. @chrisbreezie559 said that while there’s no emergency latch in the oven, that she would “never be in here.”
“Whether I’m cleaning it or not, I would not be in the oven,” she said. And for the oven to lock, a worker would have to push the outside handles “with all your might.”
“There is no way possible [that] somebody could lock themselves in there,” she said. “Now someone could throw me in there and lock me in there, but that’s a whole different scenario.”
@chrisbreezie559 isn’t the first Walmart worker to cast doubts on what happened. According to the Daily Mail, another worker, named Mary, said the story “doesn’t make any sense.”
“I’m not trying to theorize or form a conspiracy, it’s just hard to wrap my head around it when Walmart’s bakery ovens are so safe to use,” she said.
Viewers react
In the comments of @chrisbreezie559’s video, some viewers expressed a healthy dose of skepticism regarding Kaur’s tragic death. In fact, some users, including @chrisbreezie559 suggested she was murdered.
“I call foul play! There’s no freaking way she was in there by herself,” one man wrote.
“Naw something messed up about that story,” another added.
“I work in a bakery and I instantly was like, ‘that baby girl was murdered cause ain’t no way,’” a third person added. To this comment, @chrisbreezie559 responded: “I agree.”
Others, however, questioned how Walmart could let this happen. Regardless of how Kaur died, people wondered why there weren’t cameras present and how fellow employees could let this go unnoticed.
“Walmart got a million cameras bro you telling me it wasn’t caught on camera?” one viewer asked.
@chrisbreezie559 #walmartoven #walmartovenincident #walmatgirlcookedalice#walmartoventragedy ♬ original sound – ChrisBreezie559
“There’s cameras EVERYWHERE in Walmart,” another said. “How tf does no one [know] how this happened????”
“It’s a glass window,” a third viewer noted. “How could no one see her?!”
The Daily Dot has reached out to @chrisbreezie559 via TikTok comment and to Walmart through its online contact form.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
