Less than 24 hours after a mass shooting at a grocery store in Fordyce, Arkansas, Brookshire’s grocery stores on Saturday morning were evacuated after police say a bomb threat was made electronically at “multiple” Brookshire’s locations.
In Arkadelphia, a South Arkansas town 50 miles from where three of 11 people shot outside a Mad Butcher lost their lives, police took swift action when the local store evacuated customers and employees from the store at about 10:45 a.m. Saturday, June 22, 2024.
Arkadelphia resident Betty Gentry was among the 20-30 customers who were evacuated. Gentry told arkadelphian.com that she had just entered the store when a voice came over the intercom saying “Please leave the building. There’s an emergency.”
Most customers walked briskly outside, while some others made a run for it, Gentry said. Gentry said the first thing that went through her mind was the shooting in Fordyce. “People just left their carts” in the aisles. However, Gentry said she was “not frightened.”
Gentry said some of the evacuated customers tried standing in a shaded area outside the building but were instructed to move farther away.
The Arkadelphia Police Department and Arkadelphia Fire Department inspected the building but found “nothing suspicious … in and around the store,” Police Chief Jason “Shorty” Jackson announced in a statement after normal business resumed at about 11:25 a.m.
“With yesterday’s tragedy in Fordyce and our close proximity, we wanted to issue a statement as soon as possible and thank our citizens and the surrounding businesses for their patience while this took place,” Jackson said.
APD is working with other agencies and Brookshire’s corporate offices to identify a suspect.
The Tyler, Texas-based Brookshire’s operates Arkansas locations in Arkadelphia, Ashdown, Camden, Crossett, El Dorado, Hot Springs, Magnolia and White Hall. It was not immediately clear which locations were impacted by Saturday’s threat, but social media posts indicate that the Ashdown location was likely evacuated.
Two Brookshire’s locations in Tyler, Texas, were evacuated on Friday — the second time in a week — after a bomb threat was emailed to the stores, according to the Tyler Morning Telegraph.