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In May 2022, a piece of text claiming that police in Bowie, Maryland, had arrested two white men at a Walmart who were planning on killing all Black people in the store was copied and pasted across various social media platforms. This rumor was unfounded. The alleged arrests never happened and police said they were unaware of any ongoing threats. The text of this rumor read: Images of this text were also popular on social media: Contrary to what was claimed, two men did not storm into a Walmart in Bowie threatening to kill all Black people, and police did not make any such arrests. The Bowie Police Department also said in a statement on Twitter that they went to this Walmart store, talked to employees, reviewed security footage, and found nobody matching the descriptions in the viral social media posts. The police department wrote on Twitter: Bowie Police Deputy Chief Dwayne Preston told local ABC affiliate 7News that officers reviewed surveillance video at the Walmart store and saw nothing suspicious. The rumor that there was a threat against Black people at Walmart stores originated with unfounded social media posts. This warning likely gained traction on social media as it was shared in the immediate aftermath of a mass shooting in Texas that left 19 children and two adults dead.
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