Bomb scare at city CVS causes evacuations
A CVS store and a day care center on West Beau Street in Washington were evacuated Tuesday morning when a man called the store and threatened to detonate a bomb.
As police expected, no bomb was found, and the man demanding $3,000 hung up the phone when his ploy failed. Police and CVS are still investigating the incident and attempting to trace the phone number.
The drug store chain has been targeted by a string of bomb threats in what appears to be a nationwide scam. There have been reports of similar incidents occurring at CVS locations in Princeton, N.J., and several stores in Georgia and West Virginia.
According to Washington police, a man with a Middle Eastern accent called the Washington CVS about 7:30 a.m. and demanded money be credited to a Green Dot money card. The man said he would blow up the store with a bomb that had already been planted there.
The man identified himself as “Johnson” and said he was the leader of a Nigerian terrorist group. He told store manager Mark Pietroforte he was sitting in a car across the street, and the bomb would detonate if he hung up the phone.
Pietroforte kept the man on hold and contacted Washington police, who then asked state police to bring in a bomb dog. The store was inspected without incident, and employees eventually were permitted to return.
Washington Detective Dan Stanek said evacuations were a “precautionary” measure.
Nicole O’Brien, director of the SmartKids day care center, said she and the few children who were present were taken to the Shop ‘n Save parking lot to wait for their guardians. She said the children kept calm because they were told it was just “a trip outside,” and the center closed for the day to be safe.
According to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle in Montana, a similar scam July 27 at a CVS resulted in no suspects or arrests.