There are 4,717 Walmart stores across the United States.
With so many different people going in and out of their stores each day, strange things are bound to happen.
And this totally unhinged psycho forced one Walmart to go on lockdown with just a gallon of kerosene.
Walmart founder Sam Walton opened the first of his chain’s stores on July 2, 1962, in Rogers, Arkansas.
Within five years, the Walton family owned 24 Walmart stores and were generating over $12.7 million in sales.
Two years later, the company officially incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
By 1990, Walmart became the largest retailer in America – which was ironically caused by Walton’s embrace of virtually the same technological advancements that have helped raise up the biggest threat to Walmart’s continued domination of the retail industry: Amazon.
Today, Walmart has more than 4,000 stores nationwide.
With so many Walmart stores across the United States, and most remaining open 24 hours per day, the company’s employees are used to seeing strange and weird behavior from customers.
But what recently happened at a Hickory, North Carolina Walmart caught everyone by surprise.
A woman entered the store, doused the clothing area in a gallon of kerosene, and attempted to set the store on fire.
According to Nationwide Fuels, “Kerosene oil is a flammable liquid which is used in many industries and homes around the world as a fuel for light, heat and power.”
“It is generally non-viscous and clear, however viscous substances such as wax and other thicker substances can be made from kerosene,” Nationwide Fuels added.
Fortunately, her attempt to burn down the store failed.
“The Walmart Supercenter in Hickory has reopened after a woman allegedly poured a gallon of kerosene on clothing inside the store on Friday,” Yahoo reported. “Police said the woman was unable to light the clothing on fire before being taken into custody.”
Police then evacuated the entire store for more than an hour as a precaution.
There were no injuries, and the woman is being evaluated by authorities.
Kerosene has a lot of uses, including fuel for oil lamps, cleaning agents, jet fuel, heating oil, and fuel for cooking.
It’s not nearly as dangerous as gasoline, which is extremely flammable.
If the woman in Hickory would have used gasoline, it could have ended up really bad for her and everyone else in the store.
It’s not clear why she decided to try and start a fire in a Walmart.
But it’s definitely not normal behavior – even for Walmart.
