Waterbury-WTNH, May 17, 2004 Updated 3:18 PM) _ The BJ's Wholesale Club in Waterbury was evacuated this afternoon because of a suspicious suitcase.
According to police, off-duty police sergeant from Bridgeport was shopping in the store. When he returned to his SUV he found a suspicious looking suitcase leaning against his driver-side door.
Police were called and a bomb-sniffing dog "got a hit," indicated there were traces of nitrate on the suitcase.
It's not clear yet if there is indeed an explosive in the bag.
The State Police Bomb Squad is on the scene with their containment trailer to take away the suitcase and safely detonate it.
Waterbury Police and State Police have cordoned off the area. Traffic has been re-routed and area residents have been evacuated.
The store is located on Reidville Drive.
http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=1873332&nav=3YeXNBSt
(Pic of the suitcase at the link)
Palm Beach Blvd. Closed Over Suspicious Package (Fla.)
By CARIE L. CALL, ccall@news-press.com Published by news-press.com on May 17, 2004
A suspicious suitcase that Lee County sheriff’s officers thought might contain a bomb was left next to a public telephone at a Hess gas station Monday on Palm Beach Boulevard. The resulting investigation backed up traffic for more than three hours.
The contents of the suitcase: A pair of blue jeans. The road remained closed at 3:08 p.m. as authorities checked out a suspicious van across the street from the gas station.
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call at about 10:02 a.m., said sheriff’s spokesman Larry King. By noon, the Southwest Florida Regional Bomb Squad, Lee deputies and officers with the Fort Myers Police Department were at the scene diverting traffic and clearing out nearby buildings and restaurants of employees and patrons.
Monica Jackson, an employee at the Big Lots store across the street from Hess, said deputies came into her shop and told everyone to clear out. “At first they just told us to get back, then they told us to get out of the store,” said Jackson who was walking home on the sidewalk wearing her brown work smock. “They told us they found a device. I’m going home to pray for my son.” Her son, Chaz Powell, 10, is a student at Orange River Elementary School, located behind the Hess station.
Officials released a report at about 2:30 p.m. Monday that the children at the school were safe. The bomb scare slowed eastbound traffic to a halt on Palm Beach Boulevard for more than two miles as deputies directed vehicles onto Alameda Avenue. Traffic coming west from Interstate 75 also was diverted.