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.
Alarmed Observers Thought it had Missile
Emily Bittner The Arizona Republic May. 17, 2004 12:00 AM
A red helicopter flying over Interstate 10 near Queen Creek Road over the weekend looked very much like it was carrying a missile, witnesses said.
So when an off-duty Phoenix police sergeant spotted the bird, he called dispatch, which in turn contacted the Department of Homeland Security, forestry officials, the highway patrol and the military to ask if anyone knew what was happening, said Bill Price, police communications supervisor.
- No one did.
So Phoenix Police Department helicopter Air 15 flew out to investigate the mystery chopper.
"We wanted to check it out," Price said. "It sounded too suspicious."
The unidentified helicopter landed at Chandler's Memorial Airfield and police eventually learned that the pilot works for a private company that is testing a magnetic sonar device for the Navy. The Navy uses similar technology to search for mines and other objects.
"Why they would be doing magnetic sonar testing in the desert, I don't know," Price said. The Navy was unavailable for comment, but tests are to continue through Wednesday, Price said.
Did you see the news story on the suitcases found with body parts?
Third set of body parts found in Virginia
Virginia Beach, VA, May. 17 (UPI) -- For the third time since May 5, a suitcase containing human body parts has been found in the Virginia Beach area, The Virginian Pilot reported Monday.
Police spokesman Don Rimer said the latest discovery came just before noon Sunday when a boater alerted police that he had found a suitcase floating near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
On Tuesday, a university student spotted a suitcase on the shores of Fishermans Islandjust before noon and opened it. She found plastic bags containing body parts, reportedly including a human head.
The first discovery was made May 5 by a fisherman in the same area.
The remains were sent to the State Medical Examiner's office in Norfolk for examination.
Police said Sunday night that they believe they are related to those recovered earlier. In those finds, police said only the victim was a white male.
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040517-100754-9021r.htm
apologies if someone posted this already...I haven't seen it.