Walmart hit by bomb threat

SANDPOINT — A bomb threat was reported against Walmart in Ponderay. Hundreds of shoppers were inside of Walmart at the time, but with Black Friday sales still in full swing, very few people left the store. 

The store closed its doors for about 45 minutes, Friday about 2 p.m., while staff and Ponderay police searched the building for “anything of a suspicious nature,” Lieutenant Jimmy Cornelius said. The store was reopened around 2:45 p.m. Cornelius said the threat was called into the Ponderay Police Department, using a pre-recorded message. No reason was given for the threat.

“It was a very vague call,” Cornelius said.  a

Shoppers wandered out of the store throughout the closure, filling their cars with hundreds of dollars in toys, electronics, clothes and other items they found during the screaming Black Friday deals.

Sandpoint police officer Craig Koester, blocking traffic from entering the store during the event, said they alerted the people in the store, but very few people actually left. Cars were going around the police car barricades trying to enter the store for the deals that brought them there in the first place.

"People are shopping on Black Friday and don't want to leave," Koester said, shaking his head. "It's Black Friday."

Bonner County Emergency Management, Sandpoint Police, Ponderay Police and Northside Fire all responded to the threat, helping with traffic control and searching the building. Nothing was found, Cornelius said.

Cornelius said they will investigate the phone call, but the holiday weekend may delay things. Cornelius said bomb threats are not common in this area.

"Maybe one every couple of years," Cornelius said. "A lot of questions to be answered from our perspective."”