Yorkton Walmart had to be evacuated last week due to a threat.
At approximately 1:35 p.m. on March 24, RCMP, Fire and EMS responded to an unspecified threat at the store on Hamilton Road. It has been largely rumoured it was a bomb threat, but authorities are holding back that information for investigative purposes.
Within about an hour-and-a-half, responders had searched the building and determined the threat was unfounded. Again, how that determination was made is part of the holdback information.
Emergency services also shut down the Co-op gas bar on nearby Palliser Way out of an abundance of caution due to the volatility of the fuel tanks.
A shutdown of the West Broadway Co-op gas bar location at around the same time was unrelated.
Approximately a half hour earlier in Dauphin, Manitoba, at 2 p.m. local time, a similar threat was made to the Walmart in that city approximately 170 kilometres east of Yorkton. The store there is attached to the Dauphin Marketplace Mall, so the entire mall had to be evacuated.
Crews searched the store and determined there was no real danger and staff and shoppers were allowed to go back inside also after approximately an hour and a half.
Both incidents are still under investigation and it is not clear whether they are linked in any way.
