Prosecutor looking into NJ Walmart racial comment

A prosecutor is trying to determine if a racial comment made over the public-address system at a New Jersey Walmart store amounts to a bias crime.

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, N.J. — A prosecutor is trying to determine if a racial comment made over the public-address system at a New Jersey Walmart store amounts to a bias crime.

The Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office began the investigation Monday, the day after a male voice came over the system and announced that blacks should leave the Washington Township store.

The announcement provoked an immediate apology from the store manager and a promise from company officials to try to determine how it happened.

The prosecutor’s office said Thursday that some of the system phones are accessible to the public. Investigators reviewed video from store cameras, but have not disclosed what was discovered. They say the announcement could have been made from any of about two dozen phones inside the store.

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