WATERVILLE — The CVS drugstore on Kennedy Memorial Drive was evacuated for about an hour Wednesday afternoon after a bomb threat was called in.

Police converged on the store’s parking lot after a CVS employee reported the bomb threat at 4:05 p.m.

Additional Photos

BAD CALL: Waterville police including, from left, Detective Alan Perkins, Sgt. Brian Gardiner and officers Damon Lefferts and Kyle McDonald exit the CVS store in Waterville on Wednesday after responding to a bomb threat. The building was searched and nothing was found. Staff photo by David Leaming

Officers parked cruisers at the entrances to the store off Kennedy Memorial Drive and Cool Street, prohibiting vehicles from entering while they searched the store.

Employees and customers evacuated the building and waited between the parking lot and Cool Street until police said it was OK to return to the store about an hour later.

Sgt. Brian Gardiner said after emerging from the store with Detective Alan Perkins and officers Damon Lefferts and Kyle McDonald that the bomb threat was called, by phone, to the store itself, not the pharmacy. The call was short, he said.

Officers checked the building but did not find anything, Gardiner said. No other details about the threat were available Wednesday evening.

Steve Anthony, who lives on Cool Street across the street from the store, stood on a hill taking photos and a video of the goings-on.

Anthony said he assumed there had been a robbery at the store when he saw employees filing out and lining up at the edge of the parking lot. He said he came out of his house to see what was going on before police arrived.

“I used to manage a Rite Aid in Brunswick, and my store was robbed in 2000,” said Anthony, 45. “It’s scary — it really is.”

Amy Calder — 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.comTwitter: @AmyCalder17

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