Ashland , Boyd County , West Virginia

Deanne Markel holds up a lightweight black cardigan as she tells Eyewitness News, "This is what I was wearing, and I felt the first sting here, and my husband pulled my shirt up and looked on my skin."

Her husband Shawn says, "I was expecting either a bee or some sort of flying insect or maybe a spider."

It was a shopping trip that turned into a scary situation! Deanne continues,
"A minute later, I felt another sting here," pointing to her armpit.

That couple was shocked to find out what was behind that series of stings- a potentially deadly critter inside her cardigan.

She says the shook out the cardigan, and when they did, "The scorpion fell out."

They tell us this happened Wednesday night at the Ashland Wal-mart. Immediately, the couple captured the scorpion so it could be identified, and filled out a report at the store.

They went to the hospital after they got home as a precaution, and Deanne was monitored for about six hours she says. She says doctors worked with Poison Control to identify the critter. She says, "It was a Mexican bark scorpion that stung me twice, and it is very poisonous."

Luckily, Deanne's reaction was not as severe as it could have been. She says she had an achy back and a headache, and had to get a tetanus shot yesterday.

The same venom can be deadly to small kids, so she says she's relieved it did not sting her 8-month old baby or four-year-old, who were both with them on the shopping trip.

She says she's not sure where she picked up the scorpion, but thinks it happened while she was picking up some K-cups from a shipment that hadn't been shelved yet.
"Maybe it was in there. I don't know, but it got on me somewhere in that store."

Wal-Mart did release the following statement to Eyewitness News:
“We always want our customers to have a positive experience while shopping in our stores. We’re looking into the matter and conducting a thorough investigation.”

Deanne says she is not looking for compensation, except for potentially the emergency room visit. She just wanted to make sure there were no other scorpions in the store!

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