FERGUSON, Mo. — The Ferguson Police Department has reopened the Walmart on West Florissant Road Friday after an investigation.
Police said that just before 8 Friday morning a shopper found a 25-year-old woman dead in a restroom.
According to a Facebook post, the department closed the store for an investigation of death inside the store as a potential overdose. In order to fully carry out the investigation, the department said it had temporarily closed the store.
“A female shopper found a woman unconscious and not breathing in the female bathroom. It was a somber moment. We all felt sorry for her,” Sgt. Jill Gronewald with Ferguson Police Department said.
It’s not the first time Walmart was at the center of police investigations.
Police said in February 2020, a suspected shoplifter shot a Calverton Park police officer multiple times when he was off duty and working as a security guard at the store.
In October of last year, a violent brawl broke out inside the business among shoppers who knew each other.
“I was there that day and it was fairly crazy. People just need to be respectful, get what they need and not start any trouble when they go there,” Craig Books, another shopper, said.
“It’s not the store. It’s when you have a business that is as popular as Walmart is, it’s going to attract a lot of people and the more people the more opportunity for crime,” Sgt. Gronewald said.
The department is working with Walmart management to gather facts about the incident and determine what happened.
"In order to conduct a thorough investigation into this tragic incident, it has become necessary to temporarily close the Walmart store," the post said.
Shoppers were asked to stay away from the area during the ongoing investigation. At around 1:30 p.m., the post was updated to say the store was reopened. The post did not provide any additional details about the incident. Anyone with information is asked to call the department at 314-522-3100.
Kelsey Bohl, senior manager of corporate communications with Walmart, said in a statement:
We are heartbroken to learn of what occurred at the Ferguson store, and we extend our condolences to the family. We are grateful for the partnership of law enforcement and will continue to work with them throughout this investigation.
Since Jan. 1, police investigated nearly 500 calls from this store location. A majority of which were shoplifting calls.
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