Back to school shopping was brought to an immediate halt Tuesday evening when the Laurel Wal-Mart Supercenter was evacuated due to a bomb threat. Fire Chief David Chance said the Waynesboro Wal-Mart had a bomb threat Monday.

The store was cleared to open after 11 p.m. Tuesday night, but employees had a mess on their hands to clean before allowing customers into the store. Chance said evacuating customers were forced to leave quickly, leaving shopping carts filled with items, including “ice cream and perishable goods.”

“Everything is all right as far as I know,” Chance told the Leader-Call about 11:30 p.m.

The retail giant’s Laurel location is the fourth local building threatened with a bomb threat since Aug. 5. The Jones County District 2 Courthouse, the Department of Human Services building, and the building that houses the District Attorney and Tax Collector’s offices were all targets last week. Arrests have already been made by the Jones County Sheriff’s Department in those threats.

Laurel resident Sondra Penney was shopping in Wal-Mart when the threat was made. She said she was awaiting a prescription to be filled and was shopping in the store.

“I was getting my prescription,” Penney said. “While we were in line, they said ‘You’ve got to go.’ They came over the intercom and said to evacuate.”

Penney said customers and employees remained calm during the evacuation. No reason was provided publicly, she said.

“They were very considerate,” she said. “Nobody got trampled. They said to please evacuate Wal-Mart. They just said go to the front of the store and to evacuate the building.”