Days after an Indian-origin woman was found dead inside a walk-in oven of the Walmart store’s bakery department in Canada, an employee has said that she believes that the 19-year-old was thrown into the oven by another person.
Gursimran Kaur was found dead in one of the superstore’s appliances in Halifax on October 19. According to reports, she was found charred to death by her mother, who also worked at the store for the last two years.
Last week, the police said that the investigation has not yet reached a point where the “cause and manner” of death have been confirmed.
“The investigation is complex and involves several partner agencies. An investigation of this nature may take a significant amount of time,” the Halifax Regional Police.
However, Walmart employees have suggested that she was locked in a walk-in oven and “baked to death”.
In a video on TikTok, Chris Breezie, a co-worker, said that the oven she used while working at Walmart turned on from the outside and that the door handle was “really hard” to open, The Mirror reported on Wednesday.
Here’s a demonstration by Walmart employees showing how 19 yr old, Gursimran Kaur, COULD NOT have locked herself in the oven of a Nova Scotia Walmart store.
The media, Canadian police, & Walmart, is doing just what the media, police, & Crown Plaza did to Kenneka Jenkins. #CoverUp pic.twitter.com/VYYOcBZL5s
— Cₕₑᵣₑₗₗₑ bₑ ₜₐₗₖᵢₙ ₛₕᵢₜ! 🏴🇲🇽 🇺🇸 (@DFiosa) October 28, 2024
“I don’t even know if I would fit in here,” Breezie, who claimed she was 5 foot 1, said while demonstrating how the oven at Walmart works. “I would have to crouch down to get in.”
She pointed out that there was an emergency latch located inside the oven and that there were no tasks that required a worker to enter the oven physically.
“I would never be in here, whether I’m cleaning it or not,” she said.
Breezie claimed that in order to lock the oven, you have to “push” the latch “with all your might”.
“There is no way possible somebody could lock themselves in there,” she said in the video.
She said she believed Gursimran Kaur had been thrown into the oven by a second person.
According to The Mirror, another employee, Mary, said it “doesn’t make any sense” as the door does not close by itself.
“It’s designed not to do that. You have to push it, hear the click,” she said.
“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 added.
A stop-work order has been issued for the bakery and “one piece of equipment” at the Walmart store.
In a statement, Walmart Canada said the company is heartbroken and their thoughts are with the woman’s family.
