The text message said three women would be killed at Wal-Mart for gang initiation in Delaware. It urged women to stay away! Did you get it? If you did, your nerves probably shot through the roof.
But, no worries. It's a hoax, according to Delaware State Police.
The Delaware State Police was inundated with calls regarding the text has been circulating throughout Central and Southern Delaware and portions of Maryland.
This is a legend, which has hit states all over the country and has been circulating since 2005.
Concerned residents in North Texas were calling their local police department sand media outlets about the same text message.
But Dallas police said the rumors that gang initiates are required to kill or assault women in the parking lot are just an urban legend.
The rumor actually has its roots in an e-mail hoax that has been floating around for several years. It originated in 2005 in the Memphis area, according to Snopes.com, a Web site on urban legends.
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E-mails circulated, warning of deadly gang initiations involving the killing of women and children who were shopping at Walmart.
But no such slayings were ever reported, Snopes reports.
But like the e-mails telling of gang initiations the involve the killing of drivers who flash their headlights at oncoming cars or the dire warnings a couple of years ago how new gang members are knocking on doors and killing whoever answers, the rumor just keeps on trucking.
Over the year, it has circulated with variations and "new" details, as such e-mail hoaxes tend to do.
E-mails and text messages have also recently circulated in Georgia, where police deemed it "not credible," WCTV-TV reported.
Now, about that Jersey Devil--That police can't confirm...
