Jonathan Skillings
Despite a shotgun blast to the chest, Michael Penkala stayed focused on being one of the first US buyers of the new PlayStation 3.
In the early hours of 17 November, the Massachusetts resident was first in line at a Wal-Mart store in Putnam, Connecticut, waiting with three friends for Sony's next-generation videogame console to go on sale. In his pocket was $2,600 (£1,350) in cash.
Then the muggers showed up, masked and carrying guns. "They approached two kids first, and they got 75 cents out of them, and I was the third person they came to. And I wasn't giving it up for anything," Penkala told the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. That refusal earned him a beating as the robbers tried to get his wallet.
Penkala, who'd had the foresight to dial 911 on his mobile phone, says he scared off the robbers, but one turned while fleeing and fired a single shot from about 3m away, according to the Telegram account. But he was a man with a mission.
"When they let us in the lobby there at Wal-Mart, I was on the floor coughing up blood and telling the workers to take the wallet out of my pocket and give it to my friends so they could continue waiting in line and purchase the PS3s," Penkala told the newspaper. "For some reason I wasn't thinking about my wound, I was all about those PlayStations."
What makes his dedication all the more remarkable was that he wasn't a fervent gamer looking for new thrills from the PS3. No, the 21-year-old was looking to resell the consoles on eBay -- after eight days in hospital, he ended up with four, including one given as a gift by Wal-Mart -- and make a profit. He told the Telegram he doesn't really know much about the game system, nor is he a fan of it. Unfortunately, as he doesn't have medical insurance, all the money will go towards his hospital bills.
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