The westside Walmart was evacuated Thursday morning when police received a report of a gunman on the premises. No one was injured, but shoppers described a chaotic scene.
According to the Odessa Police Department, a man called 911 around 8:40 a.m. and told a dispatcher he was at the Walmart on Northwest Loop 338 and he had a gun.
OPD officers, Ector County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Texas Rangers descended upon the store, which was evacuated.
“There was never an active shooter and no reports of any injuries,” an OPD news release stated. The incident remains under investigation.
Odessa resident Oscar Perez said he was shopping for a vacuum cleaner in the rear of the store at the time of the incident.
“I heard on the radio ‘Everyone get out of the store,’” Perez said, referring to an employee’s handheld radio. “Everyone got into a panic run and I just followed them.”
People got more panicked as they got closer to the front of the store, he said.
“Especially with the way things are today. You can’t trust no one,” Perez said. “A lot of people were crying.”
When they got outside, more than a dozen police cars were pulling into the parking lot, he said.
From a distance, he saw a man in handcuffs, Perez said.
Murray McFarlin and Julie Harris of Monahans had been in the store about 10 minutes when the store was evacuated.
“They just started hollering ‘Get out, get out,’” McFarlin said. “We were pushing our buggies and they told us to leave the buggies and get out.”
Harris said there was no explanation as to what was happening.
While she wasn’t in a rush to get out of the store, Harris said others were panicking.
“They were running, trying to find a way out,” she said.
