The Washington Wal-mart store and parking lot were closed late Tuesday afternoon due to a suitcase that was found in an area of the store where it did not belong.
Around 5pm, the store was evacuated and the parking lot cleared. Washington Fire officials and city detectives arrived on the scene, then contacted state police who assigned the Explosive Ordinance Disposal Unit or EOD to investigate. EOD along with specially trained dogs to detect explosives entered the store, but the dogs did not alert to any explosives in the suitcase. EOD took several X-ray’s of the suitcase.
Washington Police Chief Todd Church describes the contents of the suitcase:
Even though it turned out to be a false alarm, Chief Church was glad the customer and store employees took proactive measures. The store was closed around 3 hours. For the complete interview with Chief Church, please visit the WAMW Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/WAMW-213983138622476/