Philadelphia, Miss. Philadelphia police were called to the Wal-Mart there Saturday after the store experienced difficulties processing food stamps.
Customers across 17 states could not use their SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) cards, formerly known as food stamps, that evening due to a system failure.
Police say management became concerned about a large crowd of disgruntled people in their store. At about 7 p.m. store officials called the police to keep the crowd from getting out of hand.
"They were disgruntled," said Capt. Dan Refre. "There was probably a lot of arguing going on and folks at Wal-Mart probably started to get uneasy. Management saw that, so they called the police department. That's how we initially arrived out there. "
Police confirmed that some customers tried to leave Wal-Mart without paying for their food during the commotion, but officers were able to keep them from leaving the store.
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