NJ authorities: 16 year old boy punked Wal-Martians

A 16-year old boy in southern New Jersey’s Washington Township accused of punking Wal-Mart shoppers in that town has been arrested and released into his parents’ custody.

Police said he used one of the courtesy phones, to calmly announce “Attention, Wal-Mart customers: All Black people, leave the store now,” was charged with harassment and bias intimidation, and were not aware if he had an attorney.

Gloucester County Prosecutor Sean Dalton said the case would be handled in juvenile court in neighboring Atlantic County, where the boy lives, and declined to give any additional detailed information about the boy.

Wal-Mart store official David Tovar said they consider the case closed, and added, “We’re pleased this matter is resolved. We have updated our intercom system at this store to prevent this from happening again. We again apologize to all of our customers and associates who had to listen to something so offensive.”

Loretta Winters, president of the Gloucester County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said, “I’m assuming this person didn’t realize how hurtful his comments were. We are concerned about that, and we’re looking into these incidents. We want to work with the community to make sure these types of incidents don’t happen.“