Elverson Walmart evacuated due to suspicious package

CAERNARVON – A package made to look like an explosive device prompted the evacuation of the Walmart Supercenter on Commons Boulevard in Elverson late Thursday night.

According to Paul Stolz, the Chief of Police for the Caernarvon Township police department, officers were dispatched to a suspicious package located inside of the store shortly after 4 p.m.

“Somebody alerted the store officials to the package, at which time they alerted the police”, Chief Stolz said.

Officers responded to the scene, notified the Reading City Bomb Squad, and the Twin Valley Fire Department and began an immediate evacuation of the store employees and customers while investigating the package.

A member of the bomb squad in a protective suit entered the store, x-rayed the device, and then carried the device out of the store once he determined that it was a fake device according to police.

Chief Stolz said the device was “a small box with duct tape on it, made to look like an explosive device”, and that “we will be looking into the store surveillance cameras to see if we can determine who placed it there”.

The store was closed for over two hours. Fire police from numerous companies in Berks, Chester, and Lancaster counties were dispatched to assist in closing off the parking lot to cars and pedestrians.

Employees and customers returned to the store around 6:30 p.m. when the bomb squad gave the all clear.