This rumor has become a form of domestic terrorism:
Police and Wal-Mart officials say rumors that a mother and small child will be killed at Wilson's Wal-Mart Super Center are a localized version of a rumor circulating in North Carolina and other parts of the country.Snopes traces it back to July in Tennessee:Sharon Webber, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in Bentonville, Ark., said the same rumor has popped up around multiple stores throughout the country. The corporation is working with law enforcement agencies to investigate the rumor.
"We take every threat seriously," Webber said. "... But at this time, it does appear to be an urban legend."
While the "mother and small child murdered at a Wal-Mart" version is the one circulating in e-mail, another form that the rumor has taken asserts in a more generalized fashion that a woman and a child are to be hurt or killed at a mall or shopping center as part of a gang initiation.
Posted by Kevin on August, 19 2005 at 05:28 PM
