JPD: Viral story about man at Wal-Mart stalking child, with other kids locked in his car did not happen in Joplin

(From the Joplin Police Department)

We try to be as informative and transparent as possible, and Facebook is a big asset to us in that mission. 

For reasons unknown to us, there are several posts going around for the last two days that are causing alarm. We keep getting messages with screen shots of these posts. 

Every time one of those posts gets labeled as untruthful, it gets deleted, but another seems to replace it. They all have the same theme: “A man followed my friend and her child around a Joplin Walmart today, and the police apprehended him and two children were locked in his car.”

So, we wanted to share the following information:

This “viral story” didn’t happen in Joplin. 

If it did happen in Joplin, we would be the first to tell you about it, because we keep you informed of those types of things.

As always, stay vigilant.