12/27/07

Manning Police Department responds to bomb scare
By Jerriod Grizzle

JERRIOD GRIZZLE/Manning Times

Store manager Robert Hicks, left, escorts customers and employees out of the Manning Wal-Mart Super Center on Dec. 27, after the store received a bomb threat. SLED’s bomb squad was called in and the store was searched. Nothing was found in the store and the Manning Police Dept. is still investigating the threat.

Manning City Police responded to a bomb threat Thursday night at the Wal-Mart Super Center on Hwy. 261.

According to Manning Police Chief Randy Garrett, the threat was called in to the store at 7:05 p.m. at which point all the employees and customers were evacuated to the other side of Hwy. 261.

“Safety is our first priority,” said Wal-Mart Store Manager Robert Hicks.

Hicks said that as soon as the threat came in he made sure all the shoppers and employees were safe.

The store was shut down for three hours with Manning Fire Department vehicles blocking both entrances to the store’s parking lot.

Garrett said the threat was especially serious with the recent chain of events in North Carolina. The Wal-Mart Super Center in Sylva, N.C. was bombed in Sept. 2007. Five people were injured in that event.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division bomb squad out of Columbia responded to the scene within 45 minutes, bringing bomb-sniffing dogs to search the premises. Nothing was found.

“The bomb in North Carolina had gone off in the propane tank section of the store so that is where the dogs went first,” said Garrett.

While the investigation is very preliminary, Garrett said he suspected the threat was made by a disgruntled employee who had been fired several weeks ago.

“I suspect he just wanted to cause Wal-Mart some grief for terminating him,” he said.

Garrett said that his department would follow up every lead that they received. Anyone with information about the Thursday night incident is asked to call the Manning Police Department at 435-8859.