Customers looking to get their shopping done early Friday afternoon found the entrances to Walmart’s parking lot blocked by street department trucks as a bomb threat at approximately 10:45 a.m. prompted the business to evacuate and close for a few hours. The K-9 Units of the Canfield, Youngstown, Youngstown State University, and Akron Children’s Hospital police departments all assisted the Salem Police Department in searching the property and ensuring that there was no danger. The business was able to resume operations later that day. (Photos by Morgan Ahart)

SALEM — A bomb threat forced the evacuation of a Salem business Friday.

Salem Police Department detectives Craig Crider and Brad Davis said that Walmart received a threatening phone call claiming that there were multiple explosive devices inside the store at approximately 10:45 a.m. Friday. Davis said that after receiving the call Walmart immediately contacted emergency services and fully evacuated all employees and customers from the store, noting that the entire evacuation was completed in around six minutes.

A complete search of the store was conducted by police, including assistance from the K-9 units of the Canfield, Youngstown, Youngstown State University, and Akron Children’s Hospital police departments, with no threats located.

“They cleared the entire store; nothing suspicious was located,” said Crider.

Davis said that similar threats have been made at several other Walmart locations in the area over the last month and that the businesses were working with local law enforcement to investigate the source of the calls. Davis also said that the police department would be coordinating with the state to see if there is any useful information which can be shared between ongoing investigations.

The police department also received assistance from the street department to block entrances to the parking lot after the evacuation was complete, and the fire department and EMT responded for medical standby.

The store re-opened Friday afternoon after it was declared safe to do so, and the source of the threat remains under investigation.

In a statement posted to its Facebook page, the police department has requested that anyone with information related to the incident contact the department.