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Washington Township police and the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office are investigating a suspected bias crime that occurred Sunday at the Wal-Mart store on Route 42 in Turnersville.
At 4:53 Sunday afternoon, a person accessed the public address system at the store and said, "All blacks need to leave the store."
The voice appeared to be male, the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office said. Store management contacted the Washington Township Police Department.
Store security camera video has been examined for any evidence. At the time, the PA system could be accessed from any of some 25 telephones in the store, not all of which were within security camera range.
At this time, it is not known who made the announcement. Some of the store telephones are accessible to the public. The 24-hour superstore has some 700 employees, many of them part-time.Wal-Mart is acting to limit the public address feature to a smaller number of telephones.
The incident is being investigated by the Washington Township Police Department and the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office as a suspected bias intimidation crime. Following protocol, the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office notified the state Division of Criminal Justice bias crime unit of the incident.
The Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office victim-witness unit has contacted Wal-Mart store management, offering counseling services to anyone affected by the Sunday announcement. Several responses were received Tuesday.
– NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
