Managers of the new MegaMart store at Upper Waterloo Road in Kingston were last night reviewing security tapes, hoping to identify the persons who set off a “pepper spray” canister in store yesterday afternoon.

The incident sent scores of teary-eyed and coughing shoppers scurrying from nearly 70,000 square feet store early afternoon, but things soon returned to normal.

“We are reviewing the tapes to try to determine who may have set off the spray,” said MegaMart’s owner, Gassan Azan. “We discovered the canister near a check-out counter. We can’t understand who, or why somebody would want to do something like that.”

Before it was determined what had caused the problem some customers had assumed that the irritation to their eyes and throat was the because of faulty air ducts or some other problem with the facility.

“For good measure we checked everything,” Azan said. “Everything was fine.”

Since its opening a week ago, the largest such retail facility in Jamaica has been attracting hundreds of shoppers daily. The store will be formally opened on Wednesday.

The Waterloo Road store is Azan’s second MegaMart store. The other is in Portmore.