Police: No 'ISIS' threat at Sterling Heights Meijer

An incident described by police as a threat involving ISIS at a Meijer store now appears anything but.

Police either got some wrong information or incorrect information about a conversation between an employee and a shopper at the store located at Van Dyke and 16 Mile.

Sterling Heights police thought that the clerk and customer had been in an argument and the shopper said "have you heard of ISIS" and threw the backpack into a shopping cart.

An evacuation occurred, police were called and the bomb squad arrived at the scene.

What actually happened: The two were having a conversation about recent events including ISIS. That shopper had just bought a new backpack but still had his old one. As he and the employee were leaving, he a
asked what he could do with his old one.

"He asked if he could leave his old backpack and she said no problem," Lt. Dave Smith said. "Another employee brought it in and left it with lost and found. The backpack was not suspicious, it was flat.

"It was apparent there was nothing in there."

But when that Meijer employee got home, she went on Facebook and talked about the interaction with the shopper. People who saw her posts on social media suggested that she called the Meijer about him leaving the backpack behind.

There was never a threat and the misunderstanding was over nothing.