A Walmart employee was found dead inside of a walk-in bakery oven at the superstore in Canada over the weekend.
The identity of the 19-year-old woman has not been released but the Maritime Sikh Society told CTV News that she was a member of their community who had moved to Nova Scotia a few years ago.
Police were called to the store on Mumford Road in Halifax around 9:30 p.m. on Saturday to find that the woman’s body “located in a large walk-in oven belonging to the store’s bakery department.”
“The woman, who was an employee of the store, was located in a large walk-in oven belonging to the store’s bakery department,” Halifax Regional Police said in a news release on Tuesday.
An investigation is now underway with the Occupational Health and Safety and the Nova Scotia Medical Examiner Service, police said.
The woman’s cause and manner of death have not yet been determined but police described the investigation as “complex” and said “an investigation of this nature may take a significant amount of time.”
"Please be aware of the impacts that speculation could have on family, colleagues and loved ones of the woman,” police added, urging people to be mindful of sharing speculative information on social media.”
Satnam Singh Randhawa, chair of the Maritime Sikh Society board, who confirmed the woman was a member of the Sikh community, according to the CBC, said: “It’s pretty distressing, you know, young people come here with all kinds of hopes and dreams and they’re working hard and then this is what happens.”
Walmart released a statement on Sunday, saying the company was aware of the incident and was working to support its staff with access to 24/7 virtual care and grief counseling. The store where the woman was found will be closed until further notice.
“Our deepest thoughts are with our associate and their family,” Walmart spokesperson Amanda Moss 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.”
