Henderson pleads guilty to peace disturbance in Wal-Mart bomb threat

Attempt at humor leads to arrest, jail time for 28-year old man
 
A Republic man who was charged with making a bomb threat last May pleaded guilty on Thursday, Jan.
21, to peace disturbance, a Class B misdemeanor. Christopher William Henderson, 28, pleaded guilty to
the amended charge as part of a plea agreement which saw him sentenced to 30 days in the Greene
County Jail and one year of unsupervised probation.
Original charge lessened
Henderson was originally charged with making a third-degree terrorist threat in regards to the incident
which took place at the Republic Wal-Mart Supercenter on May 28, 2020. Henderson, at that time an
employee at the Wal-Mart, told one of his co-workers that he had hidden pipe bombs in the store’s toy
department and aisle six of the store, and that she had “30 minutes” before the bombs exploded. The co-
worker to whom he made the comments, later told police he said he was only joking and that she took
the comments as a joke. However, another co-worker overheard Henderson’s comments, and thought
he was “90-percent sure” that Henderson was joking, he reported the comments to a manager, who
called 911. Wal-Mart management also reviewed security footage and saw Henderson standing by his
locker with a “long cylinder object” in his hand.
The Wal-Mart was evacuated, as well as the surrounding apartments and businesses. A sweep of the
store found no bombs.
After the store had been evacuated, Henderson returned and stood at the Murphy’s gas station. Officers
placed him under arrest. After being read his Miranda Rights, he told one of the officers he thought he
knew the employee to whom he allegedly made the comment knew he was joking when he said he put
the bombs in Wal-Mart. The officer asked about the cylindrical object he was seen with; Henderson said
it was a playmat.
Later, in a post-Miranda interview at the Republic Police Department, Henderson again claimed he was
“joking around” with the employee he made the comments to. Asked what made him make the
comments to the employee, he said he was “just like jawing with a couple of co-workers.” He also said, “I
said something along the lines of, ‘You have 30 minutes’ or something like that.”
Accused returns to scene of crime
Henderson said he was in another store when he heard about the bomb threat, so he returned to speak
to a manager and explain, which was when he was arrested. The interviewing officer asked about the
cylindrical tube, and Henderson again said it was playmat for rolled into the tube, and then clarified that it
was a placemat for playing cards. Asked if he had placed anything in aisle six of the store or anywhere
else in the building, Henderson said he had not.
Probably cause
According to the probable cause statement, Henderson consented to a search of his apartment, during
which nothing was found but some writings in reference to Hitler and demolition, which were
photographed. The Wal-Mart building was cleared by the bomb squad at about 7:45 that evening.