Valley fast food restaurant falls victim to hoax

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - A valley fast food restaurant was trashed after a caller, pretending to be with the fire department, instructed employees to smash windows to avoid an explosion due to a gas leak.

Phoenix police say a mystery caller, pretending to be with the fire department, told the manager of the Wendy's, located at 35th Avenue and Greenway, to go to the back of the restaurant and turn on the fire suppression system. The manager did so, and as a result, the restaurant's fire alarm was activated.

The caller then told the manager this caused a gas leak and that the manager had to break all of the windows to prevent an explosion. Workers at the restaurant ran outside, grabbed rocks and threw them at the windows.

As it turns out, it was all a hoax.

Along with the Phoenix Fire Department, a crew from Southwest Gas quickly responded to the scene.

The owner of this Wendy's, JMJ Franchises, which operates 12 Wendy's restaurants across the valley, released the following statement on this incident:

"This was a malicious prank. The safety and security of our employees and guests is of the utmost importance to us. This is a very unfortunate incident, our employees were trying to do the right thing. We have tremendous respect for the firemen and first responders."