A phone call claiming a shooting threat inside the Walmart on U.S. 27 in Sebring sent police officers and sheriff's deputies rushing to the store Friday evening, only for investigators to determine the threat was unfounded. Sebring Police say they now believe the call was a swatting incident, a false report designed to trigger a heavy law enforcement response.
According to Sebring Police Department, officers were alerted to the potential threat at 8:26 p.m. involving the Walmart Supercenter at 3525 U.S. 27 N. An unknown caller, described as having a foreign accent, phoned in claiming to be in the store's parking lot and threatened to carry out a shooting inside the Walmart. Sebring Police officers and Highlands County Sheriff's Office deputies both responded to the scene.
Law enforcement personnel searched the Walmart parking lot and the store's interior as they worked to confirm whether any danger was real, the department's report states. People at the scene cooperated with officers throughout the search. No injuries were reported, and police ultimately determined the threat was unfounded.
A Pattern of False Alarms Along U.S. 27
This is not the first time the Sebring Walmart has been at the center of a false emergency call. In March 2019, the same store was evacuated after a bomb threat prompted a multi-agency response that included two bomb disposal units from Polk County, as reported by WTSP 10News, before the store was cleared as safe. And in March 2025, Sebring Police investigated an active threat at Sebring Square, a shopping center directly across U.S. 27 from Walmart, which caused localized traffic disruptions before officers cleared that scene as well.
The stretch of U.S. 27 running through Sebring carries particular weight for local law enforcement and residents alike. The city was the site of a January 2019 mass shooting inside a SunTrust Bank branch on U.S. 27 that killed five women, a tragedy that left a lasting impact on local public safety protocols, according to background compiled by Totalcrime. The gunman in that case was sentenced to death in December 2024 after calling 911 on himself.
Highlands County's Growing Public Safety Load
Sebring, the county seat of Highlands County, has a permanent population of roughly 11,000 residents, but that number swells to more than 40,000 during winter months as seasonal residents and visitors arrive, per the City of Sebring. That seasonal surge adds pressure to major retail hubs like the U.S. 27 Walmart and to the officers tasked with protecting them.
The Highlands County Sheriff's Office, which coordinated with Sebring Police on Friday's response, is led by Sheriff Paul Blackman, who was first elected in 2016 and re-elected in both 2020 and 2024 to oversee law enforcement for a county of more than 107,000 residents, according to the Florida Sheriffs Association. Sebring Police have handled aggressive threats before: in August 2025, officers arrested a 27-year-old local woman accused of sending nearly 200 threatening messages and posting a video threatening to throw Molotov cocktails and shoot at the police station, WTSP 10News reported at the time.
What Florida Law Says About Swatting and Threats
Florida lawmakers have moved to crack down on hoax emergency calls in recent years. Under House Bill 279, signed by Governor Ron DeSantis in May 2025 and codified in Florida Statute § 817.49, a false report that triggers a tactical or SWAT-style response without injury is now a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison, rising to a second-degree felony carrying up to 15 years if the hoax results in death.
Separately, Florida Statute § 836.10 makes sending an electronic or verbal threat to commit a mass shooting or inflict death or bodily harm a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, regardless of whether the person making the threat actually had the means to carry it out. The identity and location of Friday's caller remain unknown, and investigators have not said whether the foreign accent or any spoofing technology used might help trace the call.
Nationally, swatting hoaxes have become an expensive and disruptive problem for law enforcement, with the FBI estimating they cost U.S. taxpayers roughly $1 billion in emergency response expenses and public disruption in recent years. The FBI established its National Swatting Virtual Command Center in May 2023 to give federal, state, and local agencies a way to log and cross-reference swatting calls and caller trends in real time, a tool that could aid Sebring investigators as they work to identify who made Friday's call.
