Chief Trent Chenoweth said a shopper’s comment led to a Hamilton Kroger evacuated Sunday response around 4 p.m. at the Kroger on Main Street on the city’s west side. Employees and officers cleared customers from the store while police moved in on a report that someone had threatened to open fire inside.
The store stayed closed for approximately two hours and reopened around 6 p.m. Sunday. Chenoweth said police later found no gun, no weapon and no threat to anyone after interviewing everyone involved.
Chief Trent Chenoweth on the response
Chenoweth said police located the person of interest but did not make an arrest. He also said the response drew nearly every available unit in the city, while police were dealing with an incident on the East Side at the same time.
“We had an incident going on on the East Side which requires multiple units,” Chenoweth said. “You’re in a situation where everyone is tied up on this. I don’t want to say it’s not a big deal because we responded like it was the real thing, so I’m glad it turns out everybody is safe, but it does drain everything that we have.”
Main Street store reopened
The evacuation ended after officers interviewed everyone involved and Chenoweth said the reported threat did not hold up. “It turned out it seems to be blown out of proportion,” he said.
For shoppers and employees, the practical result was a temporary shutdown that ended the same evening, with no shots fired and no one hurt. The store was back open around 6 p.m. Sunday after roughly two hours offline, but police did not say what, exactly, the shopper told the employee that triggered the response.
