For many Columbus residents, quiet Monday mornings are a good time to finish some chores. Mow the lawn walk the dog head to the grocery store. That's what Trudie Lee was doing when she set out for the Georgesville Road Wal-Mart today. But the closer she got to the store the more she realized something wasn't right. "When I pulled in there was an officer leaving," said Lee. "And I noticed never has the parking lot been this empty. And I thought well something's going on. And we walked up to the door and there's people waiting to get in and it's closed and we don't know why."
Lee wasn't the only shopper left with questions. Several dozen stood outside and watched as employees and other customers were escorted from the building.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol, Columbus Police, and the Columbus Division of Fire Bomb Squad were all on the scene, and cars on Georgesville road were directed away from the parking lot.
Division of Fire spokeswoman Kelly McGuire says the commotion started inside the store around ten this morning.
"There was a handwritten note left in the employee area basically saying that a bomb would go off around 10:30 this morning," said McGuire. "We did a sweep with the bomb dogs and OSP and did not find anything."
After a talk with employees, the doors reopened around 11:30. But that wasn't the only excitement for the bomb squad today. Another threat written as graffiti was found on a wall at Columbus state
"They received a written note that said there would be a bomb that would go off this afternoon sometime around maybe 12:30 or so," said McGuire. "We went out to Columbus State. Again we responded, and did a sweep with our bomb dogs and found nothing. Then of course we went back today and did another sweep before the time of the note."
Columbus State Vice President of Institutional Advancement Will Kopp says the school was prepared to deal with this kind of threat.
"We stepped up security across campus, and informed all our students by email," said Kopp. "We sent notices to all our employees and put notices up on the building."
The bomb squad found nothing there today, and there were no further incidents.