Walmart gang initiation shooting rumors sweep US, Walmart ups security

The Walmart gang initiation hoax we reported on earlier this week has taken America by storm, with police in numerous states investigating, and Walmart stepping up security.

Initially we reported that the rumor had swept Georgia and Florida. We can now confirm that police in Oklahoma, Massachusetts, Arkansas, New Mexico and Texas have also been involved in investigating the hoax. Search traffic to The Inquisitr indicates that the rumor has also done the rounds in Ohio and New York state.

One notable thing about the rumors is that they are often being customized by location, so that in at least some cases, local towns and cities are named as the location of the hoax Walmart shooting to come.

Walmart officials in Arkansas told local media that they are stepping up security as a precaution.

The hoax dates to 2005, although the current outbreak is the biggest in the history of the hoax. What’s remarkable is that a slew of mainstream media sites are incapable of using Google to confirm that fact, instead asking local police to disprove it.