(Daily Mail) A woman claiming to have won the $1.08 billion Powerball jackpot has broken down in hysterics as she returned to the tiny downtown Los Angeles convenience store which sold the lucky ticket.
Wednesday’s winner secured the third largest jackpot in the game’s 30-year history after the top prize swelled over three months of drawings without anyone taking the top dollar.
Two days later, astonishing videos emerged of a California woman sobbing and hyperventilating at Las Palmitas Mini Market, which has been confirmed as the vendor of the winning ticket.
The apparent newly-made billionaire struggled to speak through tears as she told stunned spectators she had scooped the life-changing sum.
Wearing a black cap with a denim jacket and bright green leggings, the woman screamed so loudly it could be heard for blocks around, according to reporters who had been waiting at the scene.
Astonishing videos have emerged of the newly-made billionaire sobbing and hyperventilating as she claimed to have scooped the colossal prize
California Lottery officials previously confirmed Las Palmitas Mini Market as the store where the winning ticket was sold, close to the homeless encampments on Skid Row and only 13 miles from the outlet where Edwin Castro won $2.08 billion in November
At one point, the ecstatic woman collapses on her knees at the doorway to the store, waving her arms in the air.
‘I’m scared right now, I’m so scared,’ she says, adding ‘God bless you’ while hugging several people in the store.
Stunned spectators watched her response while reporters tried to get answers.
When one journalist asks ‘are you the winner?’, the woman tearfully replies ‘yes’ before running down the street while being pursued by cameras.
The winning $1.08 billion ticket in Wednesday’s drawing was sold at Las Palmitas Mini Market, owned by shopkeeper Nabor Herrera (above) who will get a $1 million retailer bonus
She can be heard saying ‘I need to find him’ as she makes a break for it, reportedly climbing into a dark BMW.
California Lottery officials previously confirmed Las Palmitas Mini Market as the store where the winning ticket was sold, and they are required to identify the claimant eventually for transparency reasons.
A narrow hole-in-the-wall with shelves packed with snacks and other items, the store is not far from poverty-stricken Skid Row, where homeless encampments line the streets.
Its owner, Nabor Herrera, will also receive a $1 million bonus from Powerball.
Herrera said he did not realize he’d sold the winning ticket until he arrived for work early Thursday and saw cameras camped out in front of the shop, which he initially though were for a movie scene.
‘I tell you, it’s a surprise for me, I didn’t know what it is – filming or what,’ the father of four told KTLA-TV.
Herrera, who has owned the store for seven years, said Thursday that he had no idea who purchased the winning ticket, adding that he’d sold lots of Powerball tickets in recent days, mostly to locals from the neighborhood.
The jackpot is the third largest in Powerball history and was picked after three months of drawings without a winner
The apparent newly-made billionaire struggled to speak through tears as she told stunned spectators she had scooped the life-changing sum
The ecstatic woman even collapses on her knees at the doorway to the store at one point
The shopkeeper said he planned to use his $1 million seller bonus to expand his business and perhaps take his family on a ‘one week’ vacation to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico.
By twist of fate, his store is also just 13 miles from the outlet where Powerball winner Edwin Castro purchased his ticket for November’s $2.04 billion jackpot – the largest in US history.
In February, 31-year-old Castro came forward to claim the winnings from November’s drawing, opting to take the lump sum payment of $997.6 million.
But his win has since been questioned by Jose Rivera, who has launched a lawsuit against Castro alleging that he is the true owner of the winning Powerball ticket.
The winning $1.04 billion ticket in Wednesday’s drawing was sold at Las Palmitas Mini Market, whose owners will receive a $1 million bonus
