New Mexico Ambulance Worker Charged With Making Hoax Bomb Threat

An ambulance employee in New Mexico is now facing charges for allegedly calling in a hoax bomb threat targeting a Walmart store last year, authorities said.

The Alamogordo Police Department (APD) said that on Oct. 18, 2025, at around 1:42 p.m., emergency dispatchers received a call from a blocked number reporting a bomb had been placed inside Walmart, but the caller disconnected before specifying which local Walmart store was targeted.

As a result, both Walmart locations in the area were notified and evacuated while Alamogordo Police, the Otero County Sheriffs Office, and New Mexico State Police responded to both locations to establish perimeters and assist evacuations. Fire and EMS personnel staged personnel nearby.

Explosive detection K-9 units from nearby Holloman Air Force Base searched both locations and no explosive devices were found. After determining the bomb threat was a hoax, APD launched a criminal investigation.

Detectives identified the phone number believed to have made the 911 call. Investigators made an “emergency request” for live location data and saw that the phone was “moving throughout Alamogordo and Otero County.” Search warrants later obtained for phone records identified the subscriber as 50-year-old Severus Salas of Ruidoso, an employee of American Medical Response. Phone records also showed caller ID blocking was enabled prior to the 911 call, which was allegedly made while he Salas was on duty.

After obtaining an arrest warrant, police located Salas at Christus Health on Jan. 3, 2026, and he was taken into custody without incident. He was charged with two counts of making a bomb scare, a fourth-degree felony.

American Medical Response said in a statement that according to company policy, “any employee facing criminal charges is placed on leave until the issue is resolved.”