A juvenile has confessed to making a bomb threat last month that emptied out the Home Depot store in Lady Lake.

The threat forced the evacuation Aug. 20 of the store located on U.S. Hwy. 27/441. A joint investigation by the Lady Lake Police Department, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and Clermont Police Department deemed the building safe and hours later allowed store operations to resume.

Employees of the Home Depot sought shade in a corner of the parking lot during the evacuation Friday morning
Employees of the Home Depot sought shade in a corner of the parking lot during the evacuation on the morning of Aug. 20.

Lady Lake Police Detective Butch Perdue, a 2014 Officer of the Year, worked in conjunction with the sheriff’s office to continue to investigate the case.

“Detective Perdue was able to identify a suspect, obtained a confession and charges are forthcoming,” the Lady Lake Police Department said in a news release issued Thursday afternoon.

Because the suspect is a juvenile, the identity has not been released.