KC man charged after making Facebook event to loot Raytown Walmart, prosecutors say
A Kansas City man was charged Tuesday after he suggested looting a Walmart in Raytown on social media, prosecutors said.
Bryant Lewis, 18, was charged with making a terrorist threat, a felony, after he made a Facebook event called “Loot Walmart on 350,” according to Jackson County prosecutors. It was about the Walmart Supercenter at 10300 E. State Route 350, police said.
Police were alerted about 4:30 p.m. Monday after an assistant manager at the store spotted the threat while scrolling on Facebook, according to charging documents.
The event called for doing a “run out” at the store, police said.
Walmart’s district manager told police 13 stores have been looted across the country. Because of threats against the Raytown one, it closed early Monday night, prosecutors said.
When police arrived at Lewis’ house, he told them the event was a joke because of the ongoing protests, according to court records. He said he would not have attended the event.
“I was not serious,” he said. “I didn’t think nobody was going to do it.”
The charges were announced Tuesday as protesters gathered in Kansas City for a fifth day of demonstrations over the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck during an arrest on May 25 in Minneapolis.
