Springfield Police Are Looking For Suspect Who Gave Out “COVID Hugs” At Walmart

An unidentified man is being sought after by Springfield police after he reportedly gave unsolicited “COVID hugs” to customers at a local Walmart, Masslive says.

The suspected, pictured on surveillance cameras with short dark hair, wearing a black T-shirt with the word Aero printed on the front and camouflage shorts, embraced several strangers before telling them that they were just infected with the coronavirus, according to the Springfield Police Department.

For one person, in particular, the unidentified man walked up to another man in the Boston Road store, took an item from the man’s hands, and then hugged him.

“He told the victim, ‘Just giving you a COVID hug. You now have COVID,’ the department said.

This encounter was reported to have taken place on Aug. 15, around 7 p.m.

The victim, a cancer survivor, was not entertained by the man’s actions and reported it to the police. He stated that he had never seen the man before.

The man reportedly repeated this activity with other customers in the store, according to police.

The unidentified man is now being sought after by police in Massachusetts for assault and battery and making terroristic threats. The charge of assault and battery combines threatening behavior with physical contact, reports say.

According to the city’s law, a person who communicates a threat either directly or indirectly, orally, in writing “or by other means” can be charged with making terroristic threats.

Whether or not the suspect has the coronavirus or not, stating that he does could be considered a threat. Police spokesman Ryan Walsh says that the unidentified man telling customers that he gave them COVID-19 is just as bad as making a false bomb threat when there is no bomb.

Anyone with information on the unidentified man is asked to call the Detective Bureau at 413-787-6355, leave a private message on the department’s Facebook page, or send an anonymous Text-A-Tip to CRIMES (2-7-4-6-3-7), beginning the message with the world SOLVE.