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Employees and customers gather Thursday outside the Walmart Supercenter at 201 Civic Center Drive in Augusta after the store was evacuated at about 2:45 p.m. due to a bomb threat. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

AUGUSTA — The Walmart Supercenter in Augusta was evacuated Thursday afternoon due to a bomb threat, officials said.

The Augusta Police Department cleared the store at 201 Civic Center Drive of all employees and customers at about 2:45 p.m., according to the department’s Facebook page.

At 4:30 p.m., Augusta police Chief Kevin Lully issued a statement that Augusta officers were called to the store at the Marketplace at Augusta for a terrorizing complaint.

“A threat was communicated through a message left at the store,” Lully wrote in the statement to the news media. “Walmart staff met with the Augusta Police officers and decided to evacuate the store.”

Augusta police block the entrances Thursday to the Walmart Supercenter at 201 Civic Center Drive after a bomb threat at the store, which was evacuated at about 2:45 p.m., police say. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

Not long after the initial call, Lully said, the Maine State Police arrived with a police dog to help clear the store.

Lully said the store was closed temporarily and would reopen after Walmart staff members determined it was appropriate to allow people back into the store.  At 4:45 p.m., Augusta Police Department reported the store is reopening, but “investigation remains ongoing”.

The incident remained under investigation later Thursday.

Augusta police ask that anyone with information contact the department at 207-626-2370, ext. 3418.

Emily Duggan is a staff writer for the Kennebec Journal. She graduated with a degree in journalism from the University of New Hampshire, where she was a news editor and staff writer for The New Hampshire....

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