(WSBT) A bomb threat closed a local grocery store for more than two hours Monday morning with 17 people inside.
It happened at the Harding's grocery store on Niles-Buchanan Road in Buchanan. Police say there was no bomb, but the case is now part of an international criminal investigation.
"They've got hostages and a bomb, just imagine what's going through your head when someone tells you your family member is in there and there's a bomb,†said Ashley Carpenter, whose grandfather was inside.
The bomb threat came in by phone.
Berrien County Sheriff Paul Bailey says, “the caller indicated it was in aisle three."
The caller told the manager to lock the store with all 17 workers inside. A shopper got out and called police.
For two hours, as dozens of officers arrived, the caller kept the manager on the phone with another demand.
"There was a demand for money; to wire that to them through western union,†Bailey said. “There was a western union hookup at this store and that's why they called there."
Police say employees were working on wiring that money when the caller suddenly went silent.
"They lost communication with him and so they all decided to run out,†Bailey said.
Just about that time, the FBI got an interesting tip. They learned this same scenario happened at two other stores today in Utah.
"Phone calls were made to stores asking them to wire money so we believe this is a hoax that's going on around the country,†Bailey said. “They just picked this store. They didn't know anything about the community. Just that it was here at Hardings in Buchanan, Michigan.
The phone call has been traced to a cell phone from overseas.
Although it turns out no one was in any danger here, police didn't know that for several hours. Dozens of police officers from city, county, state, and federal law enforcement agencies were present, and Niles-Buchanan Road was closed for more than six hours.
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(WNDU) Several police agencies responded to a report of a bomb at the Harding’s grocery store in Buchanan...which turned out to be an elaborate hoax.
Police say around 10:30 a.m. a man called into the store saying there was a bomb in aisle 3. The manager cleared the store of customers but was told by the caller to keep all the employees in the store and to not involve the police. The caller then asked to have money wired out of the store through Western Union.
A customer who left the store contacted police who then came to the scene. Several agencies including the FBI were at the scene and surrounded the building. Much of the morning was spent trying to get in contact with someone in the store, as every time authorities called employees hung up, in order to follow the scammer's orders.
Around 12:30 p.m. employees lost contact with the caller, and at that point the employees left in the building ran outside. Authorities believe there were 17 employees who stayed in the building for the nearly 2 hours the caller was on the line.
There are no reports of injuries at this time.
Police are still investigating the store and sweeping it for a bomb at this time.
Authorities told NewsCenter16 that the call was traced to a cell phone from New York but believe it may have been routed through there, possibly originating from overseas.
Police also say very similar incidents occurred recently in Utah, but would not comment on if they were related. However, police say they believe scammers may have been successful in receiving money from one of the stores in that state.
Police say the Hardings managers were in the process of wiring money to the caller, but did not actually do so. Authorities believe the Buchanan Hardings may have been targeted because of the Western Union office located inside the store.
News video here:
http://www.wsbt.com/news/9399631.htmlhttp://www.wndu.com/home/headlines/9394381.htmlA video Blog from a blogger across the street:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9_GEPbS7uI
