On August 18th, 2020, the Casper Police Department, along with several other local law enforcement agencies, responded to both Casper Walmart locations regarding reports of a bomb threat at each location.
Two employees reported receiving text messages from unknown numbers. The text messages claimed there were bombs inside the Walmart locations that would be set off at 7:00pm. The text messages also claimed the sender was, “after everyone,” and had firearms.
Upon receiving this information, both Walmart locations made the decision to evacuate all employees and customers.
In speaking with the two employees who received the text messages, officers were quickly able to identify that the phone numbers used to send the messages were VOIP numbers. VOIP phone numbers, or otherwise known as Voice Over IP numbers, are phone numbers issued over the internet, instead of to a cellular device. Scammers and anonymous persons participating in various criminal activities commonly use these numbers. Officers with the Natrona County Special Response Team, to include Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technicians, also quickly responded to both locations. After a thorough search of both locations, they were unable to identify a valid threat on scene. With this collective information, Officers cleared the locations to return to normal business. Upon further investigation, Detectives had suspicion to believe the two employees who received the text messages may have additional information. Detectives obtained search warrants and conducted additional interviews with the employees.
One of the employees, Kaylee Shain, confessed to having sent the text messages to herself and her co-worker for the purposes of personal satisfaction from the disruption it would cause. Detectives also found correlative evidence on her phone as well as evidence from the VOIP provider and internet provider that Shain was the owner of the account that sent the threatening text messages.
“Making any type of terroristic threat in our community is not acceptable,” said Casper Police Detective Jesse Jones. “Incidents such as this not only cause unnecessary fear, panic, and a sense of insecurity in our community – it costs thousands of dollars in emergency personnel time and resources to respond to and investigate. We simply cannot allow incidents such as this to go ignored. The Casper Police Department is proud to be able to offer our community highly professional investigative services to not only find the suspects but create a case that holds them accountable in court.”
After an extensive and thorough investigation, Kaylee Shain was arrested on December 4th, 2020 in Casper. We would like to thank our community partners with the Natrona County Sheriff’s Office and both local Walmart stores for their assistance and cooperation in this investigation.
The Casper Police Department is dedicated to the protection and safety of our community through the highest standards of professionalism in police services.