No suspect found in Walmart incident

Someone said there was a man with a gun in the Walmart department store in Garden Grove Sunday evening. Another report was that someone inside the building was firing a gun. The store was evacuated and police officers and sheriff’s deputies searched the store.

No gun or gunman was found, according to Lt. Jeff Nightengale of the Garden Grove Police Department.

The incident was reported at 5:46 p.m. at the store at 11822 Gilbert St., north of Chapman Avenue in The Promenade shopping center. Arriving officers saw customers and employees fleeing the business and police established a perimeter.

According to Lt. Nightengale, officers were told there was a “verbal confrontation” between two males in the parking lot and that one of them “may have had a firearm.” But officers couldn’t find a witness to confirm there was a gun.

Police were told that the two parties to the argument entered the store, but not simultaneously.

A person described as an “unknown observer” told a Walmart employee that a suspect had a gun, but that observer left before being interviewed by police.

A search of the building and surrounding area did not locate a suspect.

The Garden Grove Police Department is seeking the public’s help; anyone who witnessed the incident in the parking lot is asked to call the GGPD at (714) 741-5704.