Nixa Wal-Mart employee charged with terrorist threat

Photo provided by City of Nixa

Arif Rahman has been charged with making a terrorist threat in the second degree.

A Nixa Wal-Mart employee was charged with making a terrorist threat in the second degree after an incident at the store led to its evacuation.

Arif Rahman, 33, was arrested after Christian County Emergency Services received a call early Jan. 27 from a caller who believed they saw a bomb at the 1102 N. Massey Blvd. store. A black box with zip ties and two blinking red lights was found on a shelf in a stock room at the back of the store, according to a news release.

After 10 a.m., the store was evacuated in line with Wal-Mart procedures. Before noon, the Springfield Fire Department Regional Bomb Squad determined the package was not explosive and removed it from the store. After noon, Nixa Police Department officials and Wal-Mart employees determined nothing else was out of place or suspicious, according to the release.

“The investigation revealed that Rahman placed the suspicious looking item in a place where it did not belong with the intent to scare someone,” Nixa officials said in the release.

Rahman is being held in Christian County Jail on a $20,000 cash bond.