Two 16-year-old juveniles arrested for allegedly telling an employee they had a bomb, resulting in the evacuation of the North Logan Walmart.
LOGAN — Law enforcement have arrested two suspects accused of causing a bomb threat at the North Logan Walmart. The store was evacuated Friday afternoon after the two teenagers allegedly told an employee that there was a bomb inside the store.
North Park Police Chief Kent Goodrich said shortly after police asked for the public’s help identifying two teenage boys, seen on security cameras leaving the store, tips started coming in. Within an 90 minutes, officers had arrested both suspects, who admitted that the threat was meant to be a joke.
“They thought it would be funny,” said Goodrich, “but later commented that it probably wasn’t the smartest idea this close to the recent shootings that had happened.”
Both 16-year-old’s were transported to the Cache Valley Youth Detention Center. They were booked on suspicion of making a false alarm, a second-degree felony. Their identities are not being released, due to them being minors.
Police believe the two boy approached the employee in the store claiming they had a bomb and then walked out of the building, at about 3:20 p.m. Employees immediately began evacuating everyone from the store.
The incident prompted a massive police response, with law enforcement personnel from multiple agencies assisting in cordoning off the area and clearing the store. Fire fighters and a bomb squad also responded.
Goodrich said the amount of man hours and the cost of money lost in sales was easily in the thousands.
With the help of a bomb sniffing K-9 from Utah State Police, officers went through each department in the store, verifying there was no evidence of any explosive device. The store was reopened at 6:05 p.m.
Goodrich expressed appreciation for the public’s cooperation exiting the store, and providing tips and information that flooded the department after the request for help went out.
“From the time that we requested assistance, to the time of having our first juvenile in custody, it was just over an hour. That is incredible, and couldn’t have happened without the information and support that we received from the community.”
There were no injuries reported during the incident. It happened just two days after police responded to a report of shots being fired at Green Canyon High School, which also turned out to be part of a nationwide hoax.