GIBSONTON, FL (WFLA) – The Walmart in Gibsonton, Florida was forced to evacuate Sunday afternoon after deputies say a threat was phoned in.
Public Information Officer Amanda Granit with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office says the call came in to the store on Gibsonton Drive just after 1 p.m. Granit says an employee picked up the phone call and heard a man say he was going to come in and shoot up the store.
“Immediately the management here at Walmart jumped in to action, they started evacuating the store – as did we. When that call came in to 911, within minutes we had five different patrol cars here,” she said.
Within an hour after the call came in, deputies were able to determine the threat was not credible.
“The important thing right now is that there was no actual threat here at the Walmart,” Granit said.
After a tense 24 hours involving two separate mass shootings throughout the country, the sheriff’s office says they are taking these threats seriously.
“A threat like this is never funny. Especially today, it is not funny at all. We take it very seriously and this is a felony,” Granit said. “This person is going to go to jail.”
Deputies are now working to figure out who placed the call and where it originated from.
