PORT ANGLES — Video surveillance footage showed a man examining ammunition he had just purchased at the Walmart Supercenter east of Port Angeles, contrary to an earlier report that a man was loading a handgun inside the store.
Clallam County Sheriff’s Deputy Shaun Minks said Friday that the video showed no one loading a handgun.
Instead, it showed a man purchasing ammunition at the store. He removed ammunition from the box and looked at it while in the bakery area, Minks said.
Brian King, chief criminal deputy for the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, confirmed that.
“In looking at the surveillance video, there’s no indication we can see that there was a firearm involved,” King said.
“There was no crime,” he said. “You can purchase ammunition in the store if you’re over 18.”
A dozen deputies had searched the store Friday after a person in the store told workers in the pharmacy area that he had seen a man in the bakery aisle who appeared to be loading a pistol.
The witness, who did not see an actual gun, took off without providing any information to deputies, said Minks and King.
Store security alerted a deputy patrolling the Walmart parking lot at 11:45 a.m., King said.
The man who purchased the ammunition had left the store before deputies arrived.
Twelve deputies did a cursory search of the store and cleared the scene by 12:45 p.m., he said.
Walmart was never closed to customers during the incident, he said.
“It didn’t pan out to be really anything,” Minks said. “But with yesterday’s active shooter in Oregon, we’re not taking any chances.”
