Editor’s note: Per editorial policy, the identity of the juvenile defendant has been withheld from this report.
One Plant City teenager is facing felony charges after he called the local Walmart Supercenter and reported a bomb inside the store.
According to Plant City Police Department reports, at about 8:02 p.m. July 30, the teenager called Walmart’s business line and indicated to the responding employee that a bomb would detonate in two minutes, inside the store.
Immediately, store personnel evacuated the building, forcing dozens of shoppers to leave their shopping carts and exit to the parking lot. Police officers responded and searched the store for about two hours.
When officers determined the store was safe, Walmart resumed normal business operations.
Brittany Diaz was inside the store when the threat was reported.
“I was with my family; eerily scary,” she said. “Too bad we just spent an hour-and-a-half back-to-school shopping and had to leave our buggy. Safety first.”
Upon further investigation, officers determined the call was made from a Metro PCS cell phone. The owner of the phone arrived to the Plant City Police Department July 31, to report that the teenager had used the phone. The owner said he was present during the call but did not know the teenager was going to make the bomb threat.
At about 4:40 p.m. July 31, the teenager turned himself into Plant City police. Post-Miranda, he admitted to calling in the bomb threat as a prank. The teenager faces one felony charge of making a false report about planting a bomb.
Contact Michael Eng at meng@plantcityobserver.com.