Someone called the Culver City Costco store Saturday and threatened to stage a shooting within 15 minutes, prompting police and store management to evacuate the building.
The call was received at 10:45 a.m. Saturday by an employee of the Costco, in the 13400 block of Washington Boulevard, just east of Lincoln Boulevard, according to a statement by the Culver City Police Department.
Officers helped management evacuate the store safely and an investigation determined the threat was not credible, police said. The store was reopened and resumed normal operations.
Culver City police planned to maintain an increased presence in the area throughout the day out of an abundance of caution.
The incident was under investigation as a potential hoax, commonly referred to as “swatting,” police said.
Swatting calls are taken seriously because they can place lives at risk and divert critical public safety resources away from other calls, police said.
Anyone with information about the Costco threat was urged to call Culver City police at 310-253-6202 or Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.