Concerned residents have been calling North Texas police department and media outlets about text messages warning of violence at local Walmarts.
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.
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.
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E-mails and text messages have also recently circulated in Georgia, where police deemed it "not credible," WCTV-TV reported. In addition to the Metroplex, the "warning" is also cropping up in New Mexico.
Dallas police said they are aware of the rumor and are monitoring it, but it is nothing more than an urban legend.
Now, about those alligators living in New York City sewers....
