Local Walmarts closed Sunday evening

Stores shut early amid concerns over civil unrest

By JOHN RECH

news@theeveningtimes.com

Walmart surprised shoppers and police with an abrupt closing on Sunday evening. Both the Marion Neighborhood Center and the mega- mart Walmart in West Memphis told customers to wrap up shopping and head for the exits.

“They closed 100 stores in the region,” said West Memphis Assistant Police Chief Robert Langston.

Backlash from the brutal death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis, Minnesota Police spawned demonstrations, rioting and looting in the Twin Cities and beyond.

The only advance indication police that the nation’s largest retailer wanted to ramp up security precautions came through a request to have more officers at the store on the service road.

“They called yesterday and at first they wanted some officers to just come up there to work security,” said Langston. “They made arrangements to have some part-time officers come up there. When those officers showed up at 5:00 p.m., they were shutting the doors. I talked to the manager by phone, he said they were shutting a bunch of the

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stores in the region yesterday because of that.”

Marion Police Chief Gary Kelley issued a bulletin to citizens via the department’s Facebook page announcing the closure for the Walmart Neighborhood Market for the evening at the Highway 77 store. Both the Marion and West Memphis police emphasized that no direct threat had been made toward the stores. He said the closure was do to nationwide protests.

“We have not received any threat of any kind,” wrote Kelley. “The safety of all citizens in our community is in our best interest.”

Demonstrators rallied in Memphis and moved across the Hernando De Soto Bridge toward Arkansas as military patrols augmented police in the Bluff City on Sunday afternoon. Protests in Little Rock took place.

The two Walmart outlets in Crittenden County reopened for business as usual on Monday morning.