Attention...

Attention Walmart employees

by Cindy Swirko

The word went out this morning over the portable radios that Walmart employees use to communicate with each other — there’s a bomb in the store so go the garden center for safety.
So employees at the supercenter on Waldo Road dutifully began speeding that way. But it was a hoax and a suspected culprit was soon arrested with help from the store’s surveillance cameras, said Gainesville Police Sgt. Don Geelhoed.
The incident happened about 9:15 a.m. Two men are seen on a video with one picking up a Walmart radio and alerting employees of a bomb threat, Geelhoed said.
“The employees were concerned and all starting rushing toward the garden center,” Geelhoed said. “Our suspicion was they wanted to clear out the electronics section so they could take whatever they wanted. We are unclear on how he got hold of the radio.”
A manager at the store saw the men, called police and watched them go outside.
Officer Mike Lynch stopped one of the men, Michael D. Cooper, 52, of Silver Springs. He was charged with false report of a bomb and grand theft for temporarily depriving Walmart of use of the $397 portable radio, Geelhoed.

It does not appear that any merchandise was taken from the store.