A Southern California supermarket is facing fierce backlash after a shopper died inside the store and workers were allegedly told to keep the business open while the body remained in the bakery aisle for hours.

The disturbing incident happened July 5 at a Vons in Granada Hills, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, according to CBS Los Angeles.

A customer suffered a medical emergency inside the store and later died. But instead of closing the supermarket, management allegedly allowed shoppers to continue walking the aisles while the deceased customer remained inside.

Employee Paszion Horner-Smith, who was working as a supervisor when the medical emergency unfolded, said she and another worker tried to save the customer by performing CPR.

But it was too late.

Horner-Smith became emotional as she described what happened next.

“How can anybody do that?” she told CBS Los Angeles. “I mean the lack of empathy is just horrible. It is horrific.”

According to Horner-Smith, the situation became even more upsetting when she received a call from corporate managers who were watching the scene on surveillance cameras.

She said she was told to use shopping carts to block the body from view.

“I’m being called by someone in corporate because they’re looking at the cameras, telling me that I need to barricade the body by using carts,” Horner-Smith recalled.

The grim scene reportedly continued for four hours as customers kept shopping for groceries, cold cuts, and other items around the store.

Even more heartbreaking, Horner-Smith said the victim’s family was forced to wait inside the supermarket while mortuary workers were called.

“Poor family that’s just sitting there. They can’t even see their loved one,” she said.

“They can’t touch their loved one. They sat in the store for four hours while people continued to shop around their deceased loved one.”

The incident has sparked outrage from those who believe the store should have closed immediately out of respect for the person who died and their grieving family.

Vons’ parent company, Albertsons, said in a statement that it was “saddened by this tragic situation” and offered condolences to the customer’s loved ones.

“Our team contacted emergency responders and supported first responders as they attended to the medical emergency, as well as local police who remained present,” the company said in a statement to The California Post.

Albertsons said it works closely with emergency responders and law enforcement “to evaluate each situation based on the circumstances present.”

The company added that, out of respect for the deceased person and their family, it would not share further details.

Still, Horner-Smith said the experience left her shaken.

For her, the issue was not only that a customer died inside the store. It was what allegedly happened afterward: a family grieving just feet away while business continued as usual.