Austin Walmart Evacuated After Suspicious Package Found

Police have to take every threat seriously, especially when it comes to the safety of a large group of people. On Tuesday night, APD called in their Explosive Ordinance Division to respond to a suspicious package and bomb threat called in to a South Austin Walmart.

KXAN explains that around 8:20 p.m., APD was called to come to the Walmart on Ben White near I-35. The store said they received a bomb threat and they found a suspicious package inside of the building. When the police arrived, they evacuated the entire store. The scene looked rather eerie with no vehicles in the Walmart parking lot except for lit up police cars and fires trucks.

Then, around 10:15 p.m. police began to allow employees back into the store. KEYE TV says that the building was given the all clear, but there’s no report providing any details to the investigation.

When searching online for “Walmart bomb threats,” it’s evident that these incidents occur somewhat often for the chain of megastores. Even though it’s often a simple case of teens calling in for a “joke,” the claims must be taken very seriously since the unthinkable could happen. But thankfully, the South Austin store didn’t have to endure the worst case scenario.