David Pirkola, owner of Apparitions Comics and Books in Grand Rapids, Mich., is in critical but stable condition in a local hospital after being shot during a robbery at his store Friday night. The Grand Rapids Press reports that a man entered the store around 7 p.m. and demanded money, shot Pirkola and fled. The crime remains under investigation.
iFanboy.com is currently raising funds to help out Pirkola:
So iFanboy is putting out the call to you, comics fans to help a retailer in need. We’ve set up a PayPal donation button below to allow you donate as much as you’d like. You can use credit cards or bank accounts, and don’t need a PayPal account to donate. All money donated will be sent to David Pirkola to help with his medical bills, as well as to keep his store afloat, so if you can spare it, please donate below.
We will also be reaching out to our friends in the industry to help as well, so stay tuned for possible giveaways or auctions of comics goodness, the proceeds of which will go to helping David and his recovery.
April 28th, 2008 at 8:21 am
Thanks for getting the word out on this. Apparitions is my local shop (well, I drive 40 miles to get there so it’s not exactly local, but it’s worth the drive because Dave stocks indies better than most shops do now days) and Dave’s a nice guy who needs all the help he can get as, like many comic shop owners I’d imagine, he doesn’t have health insurance and isn’t exactly making millions selling comics. Thanks to iFanboy for setting up the donations and thanks to the comics community for supporting their own!
April 28th, 2008 at 10:10 am
thanks for posting this….donation sent this morning.
May 4th, 2008 at 10:03 am
Priscilla and Fred Sliger would like to know the hospital that David is at. He is a first cousin to Priscilla. We live in the West end of the UP and just found out about David. 1-906-852-3649 /