HAMILTON, Ohio (WXIX) – A comment made by a shopper inside a Kroger grocery store Sunday afternoon prompted a large police response that shut down the location for nearly two hours, according to Hamilton police.
Around 4 p.m., the Hamilton Police Department responded to the Kroger on Main Street on the city’s west side after an employee reported a shopper had allegedly threatened to open fire inside the store.
Store evacuated, person of interest located
Officers immediately began clearing the store while employees and other officers evacuated customers. One customer described the scene inside.
“It came in, we must evacuate the building immediately, grab your personal belongings and please exit,” the customer said. “I looked at my wife and everybody else was looking at each other, and I thought, ‘I think this is going to be the real deal.’ I said, I don’t know what’s going on but I have never seen this before.”
Police located the person of interest but did not make an arrest. Chief Trent Chenoweth said after interviewing everyone involved, the threat did not hold up.
“It turned out it seems to be blown out of proportion,” Chenoweth said. “There was a comment made by a person shopping at the store to one of the employees. The employee reported it to a manager. We have since interviewed everyone involved and there is no gun, no weapon, no threat to anyone that we have located.”
Response strained city resources
No shots were fired and no one was hurt, but the response drew nearly every available unit in the city.
“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.”
The store was closed for approximately two hours before reopening around 6 p.m. Sunday.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Hamilton Police Department Main Desk at 513-868-5811.
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