Bogus bomb threats
target Walmarts across Maine, other states
By Julia Bayly
BDN Staff Writer
HOULTON, Maine — Several Walmart stores in Maine were among an unspecified number of stores across numerous states to receive bogus automated bomb threat calls Saturday night through early Sunday morning, according to a company spokesman.
Several of the stores in Maine were evacuated Saturday night for a time while law enforcement and store staff conducted searches for anything unusual on the premises.
“This is unfortunately something that happens during busy time periods,” Walmart spokesman Brian Nick said Sunday morning from the corporation’s headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. “People looking to disrupt our business generate these kinds of calls.”
Calls started coming in to police departments around the state, including Houlton, Bangor, Calais and Biddeford, around 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
“We take any kind of situation like this seriously,” Nick said. “We handle them on a case-by-case basis.”
On Sunday, Nick said he did not have a tally of how many of Walmart’s 4,500 stores around the country received the calls or in what states. Media reports indicated stores in New York, Louisiana, Mississippi, Wyoming and Idaho were among those that received the threats.
Maine Department of Public Safety Spokesman Stephen McCausland said Sunday as many as 11 Maine Walmarts were targets of the threats. He was unsure of those how many were actually evacuated.
Maine State Police personnel — some with bomb sniffing dogs — assisted local police in searching the stores, McCausland said.
“This was not unique to Maine,” he said. “Several states were hit and we are coordinating with other agencies for information.”
McCausland said the nature and scope of the incident indicates an organized attack that came from outside of Maine.
“This was really an organized effort but there are not many details,” he said. “It was unique and most likely originated in another state and we happened to be a part of it.”
Nick said this is not the first time the company has dealt with bogus threats.
“We have had some computer-generated threats in past years,” he said. “It always seems to happen at busy times.”
This past Friday marked the traditional start to the holiday shopping season and Walmart stores were packed with bargain-seeking shoppers. Nick said the company does not discuss sales figures, but said corporate management has plans in place to deal with various scenarios affecting store operations.
“We have a number of assessment plans,” he said. “Bomb threats are one scenario [and] inclement weather is an example of another.”
Houlton Police Chief Joe McKenna said local Walmart staff worked with members of the Houlton police and fire departments to search the store for about an hour following the evacuation. McKenna said following the initial search, the store’s management decided to remain closed while night shift staff continued a more thorough search for anything unusual.
Having staff participate in searches is standard procedure, Nick said.
“We have certain staff that are part of store security,” he said. “They have first-hand knowledge of what should be in the store and what would look out of place [and] they work hand in hand with law enforcement.”
No bombs were found in any of the stores that received the threats.
“The caller sounded male, but like a computer generated voice and stated there was a bomb in the [Houlton] Walmart,” McKenna said. “We dispatched fire and police, made contact with [Walmart] management and swept the building but nothing unusual was found.”
“Given that eight other stores were called and the nature of the call, we are pretty confident it was a crank call,” he said. “They all came in about the same time frame.”
Houlton Walmart customers were cooperative for the most part during the evacuation, though some were reluctant to abandon their shopping, according to McKenna.
“Some people did want to ask questions,” he said. “We did have to tell them to get out and some were upset the store was going to stay closed after the search.”
BDN writer Nick McCrea contributed to this report.
