Mall Threatened with Bomb Scare

A bomb threat in Omaha was reported to a local TV news station this morning, forcing officials at a Westroads department store to evacuate the store.

A reporter at KETV Channel 7 received the call about 8:45 a.m., said Jim Reding, the station’s assignment editor. The caller, Reding said, insisted to the reporter that this was no joke. There was a bomb in one of the malls, he claimed, and police had an hour and a half to find it.

However, police said they had no indication that the threat was credible. Area malls were alerted, but police did not send bomb squads to the malls, said Lt. Darci Tierney, an Omaha police spokeswoman. Officials at Von Maur in the Westroads decided on their own to evacuate, Tierney said. The store later reopened.

In December 2007, a 19-year-old gunman opened fire inside Von Maur, killing eight before turning the rifle on himself.