Ryan Tree was just trying to pay for a sought-after pack of Pokémon cards at the Food4Less vending kiosk in Kearny Mesa when a stranger wrapped an arm around his neck and slammed him to the ground, dislocating his shoulder. The attack, he says, came moments after he reported the man for cutting the line at the store's automated card machine.
Tree, a local Pokémon collector who says he started buying cards last year as both a hobby and a side hustle, told ABC 10News he had been visiting the Kearny Mesa Food4Less for the past several months to check the kiosk for new stock. According to the outlet, a man in his late 20s cut in line at the vending machine and attempted to buy a pack of cards, prompting Tree to report the line-cutting to a store manager.
That report, Tree says, is what set the man off. The man fled the store but then positioned himself just a few feet away from Tree and, per the same account, threatened him before the confrontation turned physical.
“All of a Sudden I Felt His Arm Wrap Around My Neck”
“All of a sudden I felt his arm wrap around my neck, slam me down,” Tree said, describing the moment the man choked him and forced him to the ground, per ABC 10News. Tree was later treated for a dislocated shoulder and says he will require physical therapy to recover. The store manager ran toward the man during the altercation, and the suspect ultimately fled the store.
Tree managed to photograph the man inside the store and captured video of him driving away in a minivan, which he says he used to give the suspect's license plate information to police. He told the station he shared his story publicly to help investigators track the man down.
“It's a cool hobby, and fun to get a sought-after card,” Tree said, as per ABC 10News, but he added that getting a pack of trading cards should not turn violent. Despite the attack, he indicated he most likely will not continue collecting Pokémon cards going forward. A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to help cover his medical and other expenses.
Food4Less Responds, Says It Does Not Condone Violence
Food4Less, which operates the Kearny Mesa store where the kiosk is located, released a statement following the incident saying it does not condone violence of any kind and considers safety a core value. The chain's automated Pokémon Center vending kiosk is one of nearly 1,500 official machines that The Pokémon Company International has placed inside major supermarket chains across 25 states, according to Pokebeach.
Those kiosks are designed to give collectors direct access to cards at retail price, but grocery store employees and merchandisers are explicitly barred from managing restock schedules or kiosk operations, per official Pokémon Center support guidelines. Since the machines often receive exclusive card sets before they reach standard retail shelves, collectors and resellers frequently camp out on delivery days, according to trend reporting from PodPlug. With no store staff authorized to referee the resulting lines, disputes over cutting or stock-hoarding can escalate quickly, and there is no dedicated security posted at the machines themselves.
Not an Isolated Incident
Violence tied to Pokémon card sales has surfaced in multiple states this year. A brawl at an ACME supermarket's automated card kiosk in March, captured on video, showed shoppers shoving and choking each other over alleged line-cutting during a restock, according to a report from Yelzkizi. In Indianapolis, an argument over cards in a grocery store parking lot escalated into a shooting in April, as reported by WTHR.
California has seen its own share of card-related violence. Hoodline previously reported on a stabbing tied to a card dispute at a Colma GameStop that left one victim critically injured last year. Back in 2021, escalating violence over trading card purchases led Target to temporarily suspend all in-store Pokémon card sales nationwide following a parking lot altercation involving a firearm.
What Happens Next
Investigators have not announced an arrest. If the suspect is identified and charged, a dislocated shoulder could qualify as serious bodily injury under California Penal Code Section 243(d), a wobbler offense that can be prosecuted as a misdemeanor carrying up to a year in county jail or as a felony carrying up to four years in state prison, according to the Shouse Law Group.
Kearny Mesa has already ranked among San Diego's top neighborhoods for larceny and theft, with more than 120 reported incidents logged in a single recent reporting period, according to the Times of San Diego. The San Diego Police Department requires crimes involving physical violence to be reported via phone dispatch or direct officer response rather than through online systems, while anonymous tips can be submitted to San Diego County Crime Stoppers, which offers cash rewards of up to $1,000 for information leading to a felony arrest.
