Abandoned briefcase causes a scare at federal building

[RC]

Broadway closed; police detonate it

By Charlie White
[e-mail]
The Courier-Journal

A briefcase left unattended on the steps of the federal courthouse caused a scare yesterday, prompting police to close down two blocks of Broadway during rush hour and bring in a robot to blow it up.

Papers flew into the air, then littered the front lawn of the Gene Snyder U.S. Courthouse and Custom House as a police bomb squad remotely detonated the briefcase, which had a yellow piece of paper attached to its exterior.



No one was injured and no explosives were found in the briefcase, which contained only papers, said Alicia Smiley, a Louisville Metro Police spokeswoman.

It was not clear what was printed on the attached paper, authorities said.

"We'll try to determine whether this was a threat against an individual inside the courthouse or against the building," said David Beyer, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation office in Louisville.

Three federal agencies worked with Metro Police during the incident, including the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the U.S. Marshals Service, which provides security to the federal court.

About 4 p.m., a federal employee had walked outside the courthouse at Seventh Street and Broadway to take a smoke break when the person noticed an accordion-style briefcase on a landing near the building's west entrance, Smiley said.

The employee told building security, who notified the marshals office, who called local police.

Employees in the front half of the building were evacuated, but those in the back half were not, Smiley said.

"This building is basically impenetrable at certain points," she said.

Police used yellow tape to cordon off the building, urging pedestrians to stay at least a block away. Broadway was blocked to traffic between Sixth and Eighth streets.

"There was some disruption to the afternoon rush hour," Smiley said.

Several people also remained inside the American Nail salon at 701 W. Broadway, just across Seventh Street from the entrance. Employees also remained inside White Castle on the southwest corner of Seventh and Broadway.

The Louisville Metro Police bomb squad brought its remote-controlled robot to Seventh Street just south of Broadway.

The robot, which has the name "Bud" emblazoned on the side, rolled across Broadway and climbed the courthouse steps to take photographs and X-ray images of the briefcase, Smiley said.

The robot then rolled back across Broadway, where police examined the images. They then sent the robot back to the top of the steps.

A few minutes later, a loud explosion echoed off the buildings downtown and papers flew into the air as the briefcase was detonated.

Smiley said there would be a similar law-enforcement response for any unattended package at the federal courthouse as authorities err on the side of caution.

This time, though, "Maybe someone left it there unintentionally," Smiley said.

Reporter Charlie White can be reached at [phone].

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080311/NEWS01/803110391

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This is totally asinine. Absolutely totally asinine. There was a tag on the outside with something written on it. A clue maybe? Naa, too obvious. There was a bomb squad member up close to the briefcase. Why could he not have read the tag? The robot even took pictures if it.
They x-rayed it. Couldn't they tell anything from that?
They blew it up in place. Now don't you think if maybe it was a bomb, that maybe, just maybe they would have set the possible bomb off also? Was their thinking that blowing up the briefcase, it would destroy the possible bomb so it could not blow up? I think they need to go back to bomb disposal school, they slept through that part.
What is with the thinking of some people that you need to destroy/kill things as the solution to the immediate problem? They used to have Lost & Found. Now they only have Bomb disposal Units. How far we have come down the slippery slope to All Fear, all the Time.
(The earlier story had pictures of the robot and bomb squad member with it.)

[lonestarnot]

1. LOL

Papers.

[k8conant]

2. Reminds me of 1979 or 1980: Detroit....

a lunch left by a copier in the McNamara Federal Building was taken out to Belle Isle and blown up.

[tachyon]

3. It probably said "THIS IS NOT A BOMB"

:eyes: :silly:

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. That is SOP for bomb squads

they did their jobs.

That is exactly what preventing bombings looks like

By the way, this SOP did NOT start after 9.11

I personally applaud them

As one bomb squad member told me once, many years ago... yep 1 out of a 100 is a bomb, but you'd hate life if that was the 100 that just went boom in your face