There was panic at a southern New Jersey Wal-Mart when an unknown person made an announcement over a public address system asking "all black people" to leave the store. However, the company authorities were quite apologetic for the same, as police are investigating into the incident.
An unidentified masculine voice ordered black people to leave the store immediately. To everybody’s surprise, the announcement was made on the public address system at Turnersville, New Jersey, Wal-Mart Supercenter Store. The announcer said: "Attention, Walmart customers: All black people, leave the store now."
Immediately, the store management sought help from the Washington Township Police Department. According to Deputy Police Chief John Dalesandro, the Washington Township Police Department was investigating into the incident along with the county prosecutor's office.
The case is being seen as “suspected bias intimidation crime."
Lorenzo Lopez, Wal-Mart corporate spokesman, apologized for the incident and said that the company was "just as appalled by this as anyone. Whoever did this is wrong and acted in an inappropriate manner. Clearly this is unacceptable. We don't think it was an associate, but we are working with police to make that proper determination. The 24-hour superstore has some 700 employees, many of them part-time.”
The investigating team is reviewing the CCTV footage, although not all of the 25 phones come within the range of the cameras. However, even customers can access some of these phones. It is not clear whether tapes of the announcement will be made public so that the suspect voice can be identified.
Some of the store's telephones can be, authorities confirmed. According to the law enforcement officials, the company will update its intercom systems and limit access to the public address feature.
Walmart runs over 4,000 stores in the country. It remains to be seen whether this incident brings any change in any of the retailer’s other stores, which has always tried to keep a clean image among the minorities. Such incidents can certainly harm the image of a brand like Wal-Mart and upset the minorities.
