Walmart is investigating after a photo that appeared to show a sign reading “Own the school year like a hero” hanging over a gun display was shared widely on the internet Wednesday.
Staff have yet to find out where the photo was taken or whether it’s been taken down yet.
One of the first people to post the photo on Twitter was a user named “Chayzz Devyant.”
Twitter user Ismail Kidd Noorzai was also credited in media reports for having posted the photo early on.
Noorzai told fact-checking website Snopes that he found the picture on the web forum Reddit, where it was widely distributed on Wednesday.
Walmart thanked Chayzz Devyant for alerting it to the display, then asked whether it had been seen at a specific store.
The user said the display was located at “store 1341.”
Walmart subsequently said the sign had been removed from the display.
The photo stirred a round of outrage on Twitter, with many expressing shock and calling the display “inappropriate.”
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Walmart responded to many users, saying the sign was “terrible,” that it was “not acceptable” and that it was a “regrettable situation.”
Walmart apologized Wednesday and said the sign was taken down after it was initially displayed at a store in Evansville, Ind., The New York Daily News reported.
However company spokesman Charles Crowson told CNN that Walmart had made a mistake when it identified the location.
Staff, he said, are still “working diligently” to find out where the photo was snapped.
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