Dunn: Police chief defends keeping shoppers inside Walmart during Sunday's bomb threat hoax

Dunn's police chief is standing by his decision to keep shoppers inside the Walmart on East Jackson Boulevard while officers searched the store during a bomb threat on Sunday night, a threat police later called a hoax.

Some shoppers told WRAL they were kept inside for about 45 minutes. Chief Lynn Gay told the station on Tuesday that the department did not want to inconvenience anyone, but that the safety of the people inside and of Dunn residents came first.

"Based on my experience, I made the best decision to keep everyone safe," Gay said, according to WRAL.

No bomb or suspicious device was found. Police have not said who made the threat or whether anyone will be charged.

Why the chief kept people inside

Gay spent 20 years as a bomb technician with the State Bureau of Investigation before becoming Dunn's chief, WRAL reported. He said that in a store that size, the people who know it best, its regular shoppers and its workers, were the ones most likely to notice something out of place, and that their help would let officers assess the threat faster.

Some shoppers saw it differently. One told WRAL that she and other customers who had already paid stood near the front of the store for about an hour, with no explanation of what was going on.

The Daily Record reported that businesses across the shopping center were asked to close during the search, and that customers who were out in the parking lots were allowed to leave the area.

How we got here

The threat came in just before 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 4, as a call to the nonemergency line of Harnett County's communications center, Gay told The Daily Record. The caller said there was a bomb at the Walmart.

The store has an Erwin address but sits inside Dunn's city limits, so Dunn police took the lead.

Seven Dunn police units and Harnett County sheriff's deputies searched the store, police said. The Daily Record reported that the response grew to include the Erwin Police Department, which handled traffic, K-9 teams from Fort Bragg and Wake County, Dunn Emergency Services firefighters and paramedics, a Harnett County EMS supervisor and the Harnett County Fire Marshal's Office.

Officers had not found any suspicious devices by 8:30 p.m., the paper reported. Police found no credible threat, and when a WRAL crew arrived around 9 p.m., officers were starting to reopen the parking lot.

In a statement to WRAL, Walmart said the safety of its workers and customers is a top priority, thanked local law enforcement for responding quickly and said it would work with investigators.

On Tuesday, after shoppers questioned how they had been treated, the chief explained his decision.

What the law says

Under North Carolina law, knowingly making a false report that a bomb or other destructive device is in or near a building is a Class H felony. A court can also order a person convicted of it to pay restitution for the disruption the false report caused.

No one has been charged in Sunday's threat, and police have not said whether they have identified a suspect.

What happens next

Dunn police have not released details about the investigation into the call, including how it was traced or whether a suspect has been identified. We will add new information here as police release it.

Anyone with information can contact the Dunn Police Department. In an emergency, call 911.