Walmart Walk-in Oven Controversy

Overview

Walmart Walk-in Oven Controversy, also known as Teen Walmart Employee Walk-in Oven Death refers to an incident in which a teen Walmart employee was found cooked to death inside a walk-in oven in mid-October 2024. The victim was 19-year-old Gursimran Kaur, whose body was identified by her mother inside a Nova Scotia, Canada, Walmart’s large walk-in bakery. Police have not clarified how the teen got inside the oven, which prompted other Walmart employees to share footage on social media showing how the walk-in oven operates, suggesting that Kaur's death might've been caused by someone and not an unfortunate accident.

Background

On October, 19th, 2024, police were called to a sudden death^[1] at Walmart located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. A 19-year-old woman employed at the store was found deceased inside a walk-in bakery oven. Investigators have not yet determined the cause or manner of the woman's death,^[2] whose body was identified as 19-year-old Gursimran Kaur, a member of the Sikh community, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.^[3]

Developments

Gursimran's Family GoFundMe Campaign

On October 25th, 2024, the teen's family created a "GoFundMe ":https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/sites/gofundme sharing the story^[4] of Gursimran Kaur, giving further details of her life before the incident. As of October 27th, 2024, the campaign accumulated over $194,000 Canadian Dollars and the entirety of the funds will directly benefit the bereaved family.

Walmart Employees Walk-In Oven Videos

As the news about the teen Walmart employee's death went viral, other employees of the company started videos demonstrating how the walk-in oven at Walmart Bakery works and alleging “there’s no way this girl locked herself inside this oven while cleaning it,” as TikTok^[5] user @recoveredmom1 wrote in her post on October 25th, 2024, reposting a now-deleted video from a Walmart worker. The video (seen below) amassed over 623,000 likes in two days.

On October 26th, 2024, TikTok^[6] user @skylarcolburn posted a video showing "how hard it is to close the door on yourself" of the Walmart walk-in oven. The video (Seen below) amassed more than 536,000 likes in a day.

Online Reactions

The lack of information on how the Canadian teen got stuck inside the walk-in oven spawned a series of theories and debates on social suggesting a possible murder. For example, on October 26th, 2024, TikTok^[7] user @western.files posted a reenact showing how the teen allegedly was cooked alive (seen below), which received roughly 460,000 plays and 14,000 likes in a day.

The incident also went viral on Reddit, as user @StcStasi^[8] shared a picture of Halifax's Walmart store, gaining more than 3,400 upvotes and 431 comments in a week,

Search Interest

External References