[7 x 77]

Five miles from there, in Niles, I was watching a 5-year-old girl who was also attacked by a mirror by the dressing room of clothing store. In this case both the child and I needed stiches and it was in a place called something like "Suits for Men".

[Maigrey]

Where I was previously employed, we had a large mirror, about the same size as the one involved, that was just propped up against the wall (where it wouldn't fall unless you really pulled it on you.)

Needless to say, having it around scared the (bleep) out me and what could have happened.

Prayers also for the family. Sheesh!

[giotto]

There's no excuse for this kind of shoddy construction. In the first place, the mirror should have been acrylic or plexiglass, rather than glass. Having a glass mirror that size and not having it properly mounted is criminal negligence.

[_Jim]

The WMAQ TV report appears misleading - it appears that a wall initially fell to which the mirror was attached:

Police quickly sealed off the entrance to the women's clothing store. Investigators report the boy was near the dressing room area...when somehow a decorative wall fell.

Fire officials say a five-foot by eight-foot mirror was hanging on that wall. Emergency crews report when they arrived on the scene Villagomez was in bad shape -- severely hurt.

"We have an evidence tech on the scene, we have someone from the building department. we're attempting to look into what happened and why it happened and the reason for how this horrible tragedy could happen," said Deputy Chief Pete Swanson of the Lincolnwood Police Department.

From: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/news/053103_ns_boy_mall_fatal.html

[ladyinred]

OMG! Who would ever think? How tragic.

[honeygrl]

Police say there is no indication that this was an act of terrorism at this time.

[CyberAnt]

Unless the store has film of the child abusing the area and causing the mirror to fall - we're talking LAW SUIT - BIG TIME!!!

[Ronaldus Magnus]

Five year old Jonathan Villagomez

[Chewbacca]

Funny that nobody has yet suggested anyone check the security cameras for what really happened and instead lay blame on the store without any evidence to determine fault.

[zip]

I worked parttime in a retail store and believe 99.99% of all accidents were caused by parents allowing kids to run wild in the store. I actually had a parent chew me out for asking him to get his 3 or 4 year old son off of a 9 ft ladder. So before blaming the store I would want to know what happened. There is no way for the store to win this lawsuit (guaranteed to be filed) even if security cameras caught the child causing the accident. (I still feel sorry for the parents)

[buffyt]

That happened to me a few years ago, a huge mirror fell off the wall. My friend and I were working out in her home gym. She was on the bench doing bench press. The mirror was on the wall behind the rack. As she put the barbell on the rack, the mirror came crashing down. Her little boy was in the room with us, too. No one was hurt, but if it had come down on her neck it would have sliced off her head like a guillotine.

[Ima Lurker]

Very sad. Several years ago a mirror fell off the wall in a hotel room. I thought the building had exploded but my husband slept through it.

[buffyt]

I was working out with a friend at her house in her home gym a few years ago. The huge mirror that covered half the wall suddenly fell. It could have been like a guillotine. Through some miracle neither Debbie, her son Matthew, or I were injured or killed. But we realized we could have been if that mirror had fallen on any of us. We felt very lucky and blessed that day. I still get chills when I remember the crash of the mirror, and then the realization that we were all inches from death. Her bench that we laid on to do bench press was directly under the mirror. It was scary!