Toy grenade causes scare at Indiana store

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HIGHLAND, Ind. (AP) — Black Friday excitement briefly turned into panic after a customer at a northwestern Indiana Meijer store mistook a toy grenade for a real one.

The (Northwest Indiana) Times reports Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents, police, firefighters and a bomb squad were called shortly after noon Friday to the store in Highland, near the Illinois border.

Shoppers and employers were evacuated until authorities determined the toy grenade posed no threat. The store later reopened.

Mike Seljan says he and his family were checking out when an employee told him that another customer dropped a grenade in the back of the store.

Josh Belcher says he "left a cart full of stuff" when the call to evacuate came over the store's intercom.