I was in Wal Mart buying groceries when my daughter and I started coughing. Then we noticed a lot of customers coughing. Wal Mart made an announcement to evacuate the store employees and customers. I don't know what happened but the fire department, police and ambulances were called to the store. They were wearing air mask and taking precautions.
On my way home saw several cars pulled off on the side of the road. Any of you locals heard what is happening there or what was in the air?

Did you get ya a new TV in the process of evacuating

Hes white, he would have been shot !

Someone might have sprayed pepper spray?

Just a headache. Didn't think to get a tv. People were getting out far but orderly. One woman grabbed her husbands wallet and left him on the store.

Gas leak maybe

MILLBROOK, AL (WSFA) -
The Walmart in Millbrook was evacuated on Sunday after police say several customers complained about breathing problems and irritated eyes.

Both customers and employees were evacuated to a nearby business while authorities responded to the scene.

Once on scene, the fire department entered the business where they found rotting produce emitting an obnoxious odor, which was affecting several customers in the store.

Noxious gases from rotting fruit? That store manager will be looking for a new job.

The only gasses that can do that from rotting fruit are methane and ethylene, but it would take a big concentration and a dang near ton of rotting fruit to produce that kind of effect.
Something else is going on.

I try to stay away from that place.....jam packed on the weekends and there will only be about 3 registers out of 20 open

I had ate tacos the night before.. Sorry..

Did you call Alexander Shunnaruaharuhaunnarauh??!!!??

That's what I was thinking, Mexican food

x2 Should have left in a helicopter.

I think Skinny is on it, it would take a truckload of rotting fruit in a building big as wally world to cause widespread problems. That story doesn't pass the smell test.

Yeah who is gonna call Walmart out on this one? Cause that's a load of impossibility.

Someone probably had pepper spray or something similar in there purse. Accidental activation.

Wsfa 12 claims a SINGLE rotten orange was the cause. Hmmmm

Rotten oranges don't stink all that bad so I'm calling bs on an orange. A cool or cold rotten orange ain't bad. A tomatoe is much worse. An entire pallet of rotten watermelons will turn your stomach but I doubt you could get sick from it.

That's a bullshit report by whomever put it out there. May have been a small test by one of the peaceful Southeast Asian 'immigrants'.

Been in the business all of my life and that story wont hold water.They are doing like society dictates nowadays.They are looking for the first thing they can blame so it will set folks mind at ease and possibly stop anyone from investigating the real cause.People in this day and time just want something to blame.They don't care if it's the real problem.

I was born at night but not last night. There is no way that was caused by rotten fruit gases. I have no idea what caused it but I can tell you a lot of people across several aisles started coughing. It probably impacted about four to five aisles. When the fire department got there, they started looking in the front of the registers near the bathrooms. I left immediately after that and don't know why they started in that location.

some body cooking meth in the bathroom? It has happened at other walmarts.

Bingo. Ask Etnhunter he knows

Obviously someone from this site trying to clear sporting goods to get a $199 Ruger.

Fishy huh.

I think your on to somthing

Or 22lr ammo.

I'd guess an ammonia leak is to blame. They use it to keep things cold. When I worked at one of their distribution centers, they had to make a ton of proper plans in the event of a problem.

Just a guess.

The fire department cleared the store, and customers and employees were allowed to return inside.

A spokesperson with Walmart said that the situation was caused by a rotten orange that was smushed under a box near a diaper display.

Several of the customers, who were at the Millbrook store, claimed that the issue was not limited to the produce section, but that it was affecting customers throughout the whole store.

When asked about the possibility of pepper spray causing the incident at the Walmart, Millbrook Police Chief P.K. Johnson said that does not appear to be the case and that it was caused by the rotten orange.

I know for a FACT it's something much more than a rotten orange. Trying to cover their ass

Well, spill the beans there Doyle.

it WAS the beans, gasified version ...

I was there yesterday it was not bad produce. I'm not sure what it was Walmart need to give their employees training on situations such as what happened because it was chaos.

If it was a bag of oranges it would have took out a city block

I heard it was pepper spray from an employee. They said the FD even found the empty containers. Not sure why the cover up.

News saying all they could find was a orange

I'm not sure why they are covering this up, but whomever came up with the rotten orange excuse needs to come up with better tall tales.

I can assure all of yall.IT WAS NOT AN ORANGE!.They are covering up something.Telling me it was an orange would be like trying to tell Skinny that the was no such thing as ancient man or any ancient artifacts.I have been around some bad produce in my years in this business and had a few rotten taters gag me but never ever coughed over a friggin rotten orange.Citrus fruits will ferment in a different way than non citrus fruits do and wouldn't put out gasses like that.

They came back on wsfa today and said it was pepper spray

Yup!

Walmart: Pepper spray, not rotten produce, caused incident at Millbrook store

MILLBROOK, AL (WSFA) -

Walmart officials now believe pepper spray, not rotten produce, caused customer complaints and the evacuation of the store in Millbrook Sunday.

On Sunday, police said the store was evacuated after several customers complaints about breathing problems and irritated eyes.

Initially police and a Walmart representative said the complaints and odor came from an orange that was rotting under a box.

A Walmart official says, after further investigation, associates found an empty pepper spray can they think was the culprit.

"We’re thankful no one was seriously hurt and are sorry for the inconvenience to our shoppers," said Leslee Wright, Walmart senior corporate communications manager.

Clue: Pepper spray is infused with a citrus odor for easy detection. If you smell oranges and your eyes are burning, OC spray is the likely culprit.

I know this was a relatively minor incident, but the fact that the police and fire department seemed to be involved in covering it up is the most troubling part. From what was said they found the pepper spray right away but still went on with the rotten fruit story. Just seems strange. If you don't want to say what it was just say we don't have a comment or its under investigation, no need to lie about it or go with some outlandish rotten fruit story. I understand walmart making up a story, I don't need to trust the walmart manager, but the others need to be honest with the public.

Did the Police or Fire or Fire Departments officially comment on the story and say it was rotten fruit? I never saw it if they did but did see that was reported by WSFA. Their information could have come from the store or other person without the knowledge or authority to release official statements.

That's highly likely. Press don't give a chit. Just need a headline.

The Millbrook police chief was quoted as saying it was oranges.

Cover up, I doubt. Ignorance 100%.

Almost everyone has had that forgotten (decaying) box of FFA fruit that they rediscovered in mid January. Although bad, it wasn't enough to evacuate the house.

ive tried and tried to tell yall the media lies.

That's crazy talk

Well, it had a citrus odor to it. He should have figured it out. Doesn't make him look too good does it?

I can't speak for everyone, but I did not smell citrus. In fact, there wasn't a change in the smell of the air. Just half the store started coughing and some shoppers' eyes turned red. My daughter and I left and drove home. We took showers and washed all of our clothes to be on the safe side.

The story I read said the police chief was asked if it was pepper spray and he said no it was rotten fruit. You know the fire department told him they found the pepper spray. Not a huge deal, but these are people who we are supposed to trust, say no comment or we don't know but it isn't something dangerous and find out what it is, don't make up things.

If peoples would just listen to the authaurotiez!

I can only imagine what kind of yokel Millbrook has for a police chief considering the mayor they have.

I've known P.K. Johnson since he was a sergeant bout 15 years ago and he is a good guy. Probably not the most sophisticated chief around but far from what I would call a yokel. He is pretty well respected in the LE community as a straight shooter.

I graduated HS with him and thought he was a good guy. I haven't talked to him since then. I just see his quotes in the paper from time to time.