The Antelope Valley Times

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Palmdale Walmart evacuated after gun threat

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The incident happened around 1:10 p.m. Friday, Dec. 11, at the Walmart located at 40130 10th Street West in Palmdale. [Photo by LUIS MEZA]
The incident happened around 1:10 p.m. Friday, Dec. 11, at the Walmart located at 40130 10th Street West in Palmdale. [Photo by LUIS MEZA]
PALMDALE – A Palmdale Walmart was evacuated Friday afternoon after a man allegedly threatened a customer and exposed a firearm, authorities said.

The incident happened around 1:10 p.m. Friday, Dec. 11, at the Walmart located at 40130 10th Street West in Palmdale, according to Lt. Ron Shaffer of the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station.

[LUIS MEZA]
[LUIS MEZA]
“We  had an individual come shopping, and another person came up to him and made threats to him, threatened his personal safety and exposed a firearm. He had it in his waistband,” Shaffer said.

The victim ran away and sought help from a California Highway Patrol officer, who was at the store as part of a CHiPS for Kids “Stuff-A-Bus” toy drive, according to Shaffer.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was alerted and deputies evacuated the store. They searched for the suspect but did not find him.

“In hindsight, we found out that the suspect had left just before they cleared the store,” Shaffer said.

Employees and customers were allowed to return to the store around 2:20 p.m., according to Shaffer.

The incident remains under investigation, and detectives were still searching for the suspect Friday evening. The suspect is described as a black male, about 6 feet tall, who was wearing a gray shirt and gray pants at the time of incident, the lieutenant said.

The victim’s wife spoke to reporters at the scene and said she witnessed the gunman threaten her husband. She said the gunman had been incarcerated and he was blaming the victim for his predicament.

Anyone with information on this incident is asked to contact the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station at 661-272-2400.

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Filed Under: Crime/ Safety

40 comments for "Palmdale Walmart evacuated after gun threat"

  1. Quality over quantity. I’d rather shop at Target where the population is a little more tame and not as overtly criminal-looking and trashy. Nothing like that has ever happened at Target and it has been in this valley longer than Walmart. The Lancaster Target store goes all of the way back to the mid 1980s when Targets were first being built!

    Walmart markets mass-produced junk to people who like mass-produced junk. Therein lies the problem!

    • They carry most of the same product lines. Wal-Mart has more diversity in what it carries and what you can order for store delivery. Target has typically had a better choice of food though at the Super Targets, Wal-Mart is trying to close that gap.
      Will agree on the general type of consumer look though, Wal-Mart does get some strange looking folks in it that I rarely see in Target.

      • Just subjective observation based on limited experience, but it has seemed to me that staff is more helpful and courteous at target than WalMart. I attribute this to them being either better paid, better managed, or both. I make decisions about where to shop based on that more than anything else, so I go to Target if I’m looking for that kind of stuff…but I rarely shop for that kind of stuff.

        For food I go to Stater Bros, which beats them both hands down in pretty much every way. So does Vallarta.

  2. Walmart sucks but Walmart + So-Cal is the worst. Lucky I don’t shop there and they didn’t threaten me. Headline would be a-hole tries to pull gun from his pants on a combat veteran at walmart but loses his junk when trigger gets pulled while gun still in pants.

  3. Once again Tim Scott has the answer to this and all of life’s situations. Thank you Tim Scott for being there for all of us

  4. I hope the suspect will be Muslim, because once if the FBI identifies the suspect, you may not know it could be terrorism or not.

    • This comment literally makes no sense at all? How old are you and what level of education do you have? Ignorance and paranoia are a scary combination.

      • Sorry, it was a typing mistake. I said that the suspect will NOT be a Muslim. Once if they been identified, it will be a dangerous situation. So must be careful of going to those stores.

    • This is no Muslim This is no terrorism this is America’s Junk that shop at Walmart. The city should make it mandatory that a Sub-Police station be placed inside of each and every Walmart. If your looking for the AV most wanted go to walmart from 3pm to 9pm thru – sun

      • Tom, Thank you for calling me JUNK, I am educated, I am well mannered, I am clean. I am not the scum of the bottom of the barrel. I shop at Walmart simply because I cannot afford to shop at Khols, Jc Pennys or any of the higher end stores. I find everything I need at Walart or Walmart online. Think before you write a statement, not everyone is a criminal some are just the product of a life stopped dead by disability.

        • No worries. Tom with his sweeping generalizations says more about himself than he does about people who shop at WalMart.

          • And exactly how is it any different than YOUR sweeping generalizations of law enforcement? What that says about YOU is that you or your family (or both) have a criminal history. Nobody else has much dealing with the cops!

          • Why is it that you feel the need to try to make every conversation about ME? I know I’m interesting, but really, don’t you have ANYTHING else in your life?

            Meanwhile, while I haven’t MET a lot of cops, their behavior can be observed pretty readily and there aren’t THAT many of them. So there are general patterns of behavior that can legitimately be pointed out.

            On the other hand, there are far too many WalMart shoppers, and they are far too diverse, for anyone to back up the claims Tom made. His comment was random spewing of his own self perceived superiority, no more, no less.

        • soapbox journal,
          Thank you for your comment…I shop at Walmart for the same reason, I can’t afford to pay 2-3 times more for something elsewhere…I am no criminal…Tom, what a stupid statement…

  5. There has been two deaths surrounding this walmart already. Google Walmart shooting there’s a long list. Walmart is a Garbage operation. I was against the new so-call neighborhood walmart on rancho Vista blvd, This walmart used to stay open 24-7 but now close at 12am. I ask serval clerks why do you close at midnight now they said because of late night the theft. The clerk said the people that was coming in after midnight to steal was not from rancho Vista area.

  7. all the cameras in WalMart and they saw nothing? Let see if the “victims” file a lawsuit against WalMart. Oh and do you ppl really think this is the one and only weapon walking around WalMart every day all day. Jeez ppl think about where you live. You are surrounded by weapons every day.

    • I think people know where they live. Unfortunately, some folks think it’s still the 1800s and we’re in the Wild West.

      • Just because you carry a gun doesn’t mean you think it’s the 1800s or the wild wild west. I’m a single mom of 4 and Im licensed to carry. I know it’s not the 1800s BUT I do know it is 2015 and crime (Robert, assault, rape) is high so I protect myself. By the time the police stove it’s to late, look at this situation and they were already on premises. I hope they catch the perp before he followed through.

    • Hey shiny object idiot… Focus! Sure, bad mouth law enforcement. The one’ swilling to put their lives on the line.

      FYI: It’s called body armor.

      • Preventative maintenance, people! Call me a shiny object person when police do it just for a shiny badge! As for those body armor comments. You all actually got me to laugh. So these athletic individuals decided to put their uniform over their military tactical style undergarments. Lose some weight! I love the police! I support blue lives! But i don’t agree that these individuals should be given the frontline of defense when they can’t even control their eating habits.

        • That was a jumpsuit, not a uniform, over the tactical gear. It looks bulky, but I know her and she could easily run you down.

    • It’s not right to put people down for their weight…. cops deal with too much hate now days. I pray for the cops firefighter and EMTs because they will be there for me if my life’s in danger… so I keep them in prayers for their safety. Ty all who serve the community.

  9. Maybe the “victim” told on the man who threatened him, but then again, there wouldn’t be a vague description of the suspect if his identity was known by him…unless he doesn’t want to tell on him again.

  10. Getting blamed out of the blue by someone who went to jail. Could happen to anyone. We better all panic.

    /sarcasm

    • The article seems to be missing part of the story. We don’t know if the gunman knew the threatened person. One would think so from the wife’s comments. Or, maybe he is mentally unstable and delusional. In that case, or if he is an EX-felon, he should not have a gun.

      • It does seem reasonable to think that the guy didn’t walk up to a complete stranger and say “you got me sent to jail.” And just happen to know the complete stranger’s wife.

        Stay out of the shady business of shady people and you can go to WalMart safely. Things that happen to people who are involved in the shady business of shady people should not have any effect on your behavior AT ALL. This story does not mean you should avoid WalMart, or that you need to get a concealed carry permit if you intend to leave your home, or any of the other crazy paranoid meanings people always try to attach to events like this.

        • You are assuming the couple approached are shady. Maybe they were a victim of this guy in the past & had to testify, perhaps the man was on the jury that convicted him. Many possible explanations. & if you can carry safely & legally then, hell yea, do it. It can save your life & others too.

          • No, I said “stay out of the business of shady people.” I did not say the couple who were approached were in any shady business themselves.

            The point was that the ordinary person…not the heroic witness, not the easily recognized juror with the forehead birthmark that looks like Jesus, the ORDINARY person…does not have people walk up out of the blue and say “you got me put in jail.”

            As to “carry safely and legally” every statistical analysis ever done, every bit of data ever collected, by every measure clearly shows that OWNING a gun increases your odds of being killed, injured, or having your family harmed. CARRYING that gun makes things measurably worse, not better, so there is no such thing as “carry safely.”

            Just like the “good driver” tells themselves that despite all the statistics about traffic accidents they are the “chosen one” that nothing bad will happen to, the person carrying a gun FEELS safer so they deny all the statistical realities that say that they actually are not.

          • LOL…”untainted” facts? That website is a propaganda mouthpiece for the gun lobby. What exactly makes you think the “facts” are “untainted”?

            I’m gonna guess that they are “facts” that you WANT to believe, which is all fine if it makes you comfortable, but they are of little use in an argument.

            By the way, when you say “most likely include suicides,” so what if they do? Millions of people experience suicidal thoughts at some point in their lives. Statistically, if they have a perceived “easy” way they are far more likely to act on those thoughts. So, yes, if your teenager has that moment of angst that might otherwise pass in the normal course of events, but you have guns in the house, you are more likely to lose a child.