Pokémon Card Releases Allegedly Lead To Police Chase, Shooting, A Fist Fight, and Trackers Placed on Vehicles

Pokémon card releases are getting out of control.  The demand for the cards by reported scalpers has people posting stories to social media that are nuts!  Fights, a shooting, destruction of purchased cards, police involvement, and even tracking devices?

For a while, stores were limiting the number of cards customers could purchase, but it seems those limits are gone, along with any sense of sanity.

These posts/videos were posted, allegedly showing bad behavior around the release of Pokémon cards.

(Posts and videos belong to the accounts that put them up–full credit to them.)

A fist fight in Walmart

This video shows a reported scalper in an altercation with another shopper. However, there is no evidence to prove this is the case.

🚨 Known #scalper causes scene at Walmart 😳

San Antonio, TX — April 9 11AM
According to the submission, the man in grey sweats is a known scalper & tensions were already high during the wait… leading to another argument at the drop

Same faces, same problems.#PokeStreetz pic.twitter.com/yDTWNLCYIV

— PokéStreetz (@POKESTREETZ) April 9, 2026

Another video shows cards and coffee on the ground that reportedly resulted in a police chase. 

Somehow, the cart full of Prismatic SPC cards had coffee thrown on them, which I assume is to devalue them. Then the cart was hit by a car, and the car ran over the boxes.

COSTCO POKÉMON DROP TURNS INTO COMPLETE CHAOS 😳

a cart full of Prismatic SPCs got hit with coffee… then a car slammed it, boxes hit the floor & got run over

COPS CHASE DRIVER 🚨

This is getting outta hand#PokeStreetz #CostcoDrop #CAUGHTSCALPING #SCALPERWATCH #CANADAWILDAF pic.twitter.com/52t7jBU5pm

— PokéStreetz (@POKESTREETZ) April 11, 2026

Vendors are reporting tracking devices being placed on their vehicles. 

From Pokestop519:

“Some seriously bad news in the TCG community after an amazing first day of the expo.

A few vendors came outside and discovered GPS tracking devices placed on their vehicles. We immediately came together and contacted police — they’re actively dealing with it… pic.twitter.com/Oo6t2dulZk

— lememe_james (@LememeJames) April 11, 2026

Someone in the comments also reported that other vendors find these devices.

This is confirmed a few of our vendor friends had trackers under the cars. Security guards are a joke at these events.

— Percocet Piplup (@PercocetPiplup) April 11, 2026

A shooting over one of the machines at Kroger

An argument over Pokémon cards ends in a shooting on Indy’s east side.

It happened just before 7 p.m. in the Kroger parking lot near Southeastern Avenue and East Pleasant Run Parkway Drive East.

Metro Police tell us an adult male was taken to the hospital for surgery and was… pic.twitter.com/qw2NCraC0h

— Ashton Hackman WTHR (@ashtonhackmantv) April 12, 2026

This is getting out of control. It’s bad enough that the fans who want to collect or play with the cards can’t get them over this behavior, but now people are being put in danger over paper cards with cute critters on them.

My son collects the cards. He was telling me that two people went into Walmart and wiped out all the cards off the shelf before anyone else could even get one pack. I guess Walmart stopped its limits.

What do you think? Is it getting out of control?

Do you think there is something that can be done to stop this behavior?

Comment and let us know!