#Walmart, #WalmartHalifax, #GursimranKaur, #Canada, #SikhWoman, #WalkInOven
Halifax (Canada): Days after a 19-year-old Indian-origin woman was discovered dead inside a walk-in oven in the bakery department of a Walmart in Canada, a store employee expressed suspicions that she may have been thrown into the oven by someone else, media reports said.
Gursimran Kaur was found dead by her mother in one of the superstore’s appliances in Walmart’s Halifax store on October 19.
Gursimran Kaur had been employed at Walmart for two years, where she worked alongside her mother, according to an NDTV report.
Meanwhile, her father and brother, who are still in India, are making efforts to travel to Canada in the wake of the incident.
Last week, police said that the investigation is underway and that the “cause and manner” of her death have not yet been ascertained.
“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”.
Walk-in ovens, used by commercial bakeries, are designed to dry, bake, or cure items in batches using wheeled racks.
As part of its investigation into Kaur’s death, authorities are conducting a thorough examination of the oven.
In a TikTok video, Walmart employee Chris Breezie, a colleague of Gursimran Kaur, stated that the oven could only be activated from the outside and had a difficult-to-open door handle, according to The Mirror on Wednesday.
🚨🇨🇦 Women giving a description of the oven of the Halifax Walmart employee who ‘baked to death’ in walk-in oven
The victim is 19-year-old Gursimran Kaur she was found dead in the oven by her mom during the same Night Shift. pic.twitter.com/EFgdq40zUx— Julie Jolie (@juliejolie_) October 25, 2024
In the TikTok video, Breezie demonstrated how the oven at Walmart worked. “I don’t even know if I would fit in here. I would have to crouch down to get in”, she said even as she claimed that she was just 5 foot 1.
Breezie pointed out that there was an emergency release latch inside the oven and that employees had no tasks requiring them to enter the oven.
Breezie alleged that locking the oven required forcefully pushing the latch, which she felt indicated that Kaur may have been forced into the oven by someone else.
“I would never be in here, whether I’m cleaning it or not,” she said. “There is no way possible somebody could lock themselves in there,” she said in the video.
She reiterated that it ‘doesn’t make sense’ that Gursimran could have locked herself inside the oven as “it’s designed not to do that. You have to push it, hear the click.”
“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 in the video.
A stop-work order has been placed on the bakery section at the Walmart store.
In a statement, Walmart Canada expressed deep sorrow, saying the company is heartbroken and extends its thoughts to the woman’s family.
