Police receive false alarm about gunman in Wal–Mart

Eleven Gainesville Police officers reported to the Wal-Mart on Archer Road on Friday after they received a false report from a pay phone of a gun-wielding man in the sporting-goods section, a GPD report stated.

After the officers found no such man, they arrested Hugh Dennis Ferrington, 54, on charges of filing a false report, the report stated.

Two Wal-Mart employees told police Ferrington seemed upset after he was unable to return items without a receipt at the store's customer service desk. They said he later went outside to use a pay phone, GPD spokeswoman Summer Hallett said.

Ferrington told police he did not make the phone call and had not been near the customer service desk, the report stated.