SOUTH POINT — A bomb threat at Walmart was called in to the Lawrence County 911 Dispatch Center around 8:40 p.m. Thursday. The male caller claimed he was a former employee and had been fired and said there was going to be a “big boom shortly” and hung up the phone, according to Sheriff Jeff Lawless.

The Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office, the Fayette Township Fire Department, and the South Point Fire Department were alerted.

Lawless said the store was evacuated and a search was conducted by the three departments.

“We determined we would get a bomb-sniffing canine from the Ohio State Highway Patrol,” Lawless said. A canine was sent to the scene from Columbus.

“A search was conducted and nothing was found or located,” the sheriff said.

Lawless said the phone number wasn’t captured through the 911 dispatch center when it came through.

“We are trying to get the phone company to provide us information with where the call came from,” Lawless said.

He added that when they come up with a suspect, they can match up the voice on the phone call with the suspect’s voice and do some voice recognition.

“We are following up on some leads right now,” Lawless said.

Walmart remained closed for four or five hours while the search was conducted.

“This put the store out of business for several hours,” Lawless said. “We certainly want to catch this guy and see that he faces the penalty for the crime committed. A lot of resources and manpower were used.”