Target worker not answering radio found fatally pinned on mechanical lift, PA cops say

Employees at a Target store in Pennsylvania were preparing to close for the night when they noticed a coworker was missing, leading them to a grim discovery, according to police.

Workers at the Muncy Township store were readying to lock up after 12 a.m. on Nov. 2, but when the shift lead radioed 26-year-old Brianna Burley-Inners, she didn’t answer, Pennsylvania State Police said in a Nov. 4 news release.

Realizing they hadn’t seen her for a half-hour or more, the Target workers went looking, police said. They called 911 as soon as they found her, according to police, but it was too late.

She was “hunched over” on top of a mechanical lift, pinned between the lift and a door frame or wall, police said. Coworkers tried to save her and mechanically overrode the manlift to bring her back down to ground level, where they performed CPR.

Burley-Inners was pronounced dead at the scene by first responders, according to police.

She had been “working on the security system in the ceiling at the time of the incident,” police said.

Specifically, she was cleaning the lenses on the security cameras near the store’s pharmacy, Lycoming County Coroner Charles E. Kiessling Jr. told the Williamsport Sun-Gazette.

Police say it’s not clear how Burley-Inners became stuck, but “there were no signs of suspicious activity,” and her death is considered accidental.

Muncy is a roughly 160-mile drive northwest from Philadelphia.

This story was originally published November 7, 2024 at 8:02 AM with the headline "Target worker not answering radio found fatally pinned on mechanical lift, PA cops say."