SAN ANGELO, TX— UPDATE 4:45 p.m. The Stephens Library has re-opened at 4:30 p.m. after the Abilene Police Department Bomb Squad determined what was inside the suspicious package.
Here is the story as is unfolded Wednesday afternoon:
Update at 1:20 p.m.
The Tom Green County Library has been evacuated by authorities due to a suspicious package, according to our reporter on scene.
The San Angelo Fire and Police departments are on scene investigating in the alley behind the library with the area taped off. A small box was left on the loading dock there. The package measures 12 inches by 12 inches by 3-and-a-half inches.
The Abilene bomb squad has been called to the scene.
No other businesses have been evacuated, but vehicles have been moved out of the way.
This story is still developing. We will post more details as they become available.
Last month, San Angelo authorities had to call in the Abilene bomb squad to the scene of what was believed to be a pipe bomb at the Strips Convenience Store on Howard and Junius.
Update 4:15 p.m.
The Abilene Police Department’s Bomb Squad has arrived on the scene of the downtown Stephens Library where a suspicious package was found.
A member of the bomb squad suited up and will investigate the package.
WATCH:
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Update 4:45 p.m.
The Stephens Central Library was closed Wednesday afternoon for about three hours after a library employee reported a suspicious package there.
According to Fire Marshal Ross Coleman, video surveillance informed him that an “older gentleman” left the U.S. Post Office Priority Mail box on a counter inside the library. Shortly thereafter, an employee moved the package to the rear of the library before authorities were called.
The report came in at 12:30 p.m. The Fire Marshal called in the Abilene Police Department Bomb Squad shortly thereafter. The Bomb Squad arrived at approximately 3:30 p.m.
Coleman said the Bomb Squad X-rayed the package before opening it. Inside, he said, were pamphlets on “how to make money,” Coleman said.
Coleman said his investigators want to talk to the “older gentleman” caught on video leaving the box on the countertop inside the library. Coleman asked the man, if he reads this, to contact his office at (325) 657-4358.
The library re-opened at 4:30 p.m.
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Comments
likely just forgot his package. What a world we live in to have such a reaction. I understand we have to live like this, but it stinks.
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PermalinkDon't let the issue get minimized. Pamphlets can be dangerous. Before Hitler rose to power, pamphlets were passed out. Before Communism swept Europe, pamphlets were passed out. Anarchists? Same methods. What do militaries around the world drop into enemy territory? Pamphlets. And that's just half of the horror we're facing.
Boxes kill. Every year, countless (I haven't actually checked any references for this, but it's a lot, I'm sure,) people are killed by falling boxes, hospitalized, or otherwise injured. The vast majority of boxes are opaque and thus pose a security threat. The act of placing something into a box itself is suspicious. No one knows what's inside who didn't see it's contents first placed into the box, or until it's opened. But once it's opened, then what?
Boxes are used everywhere for shipping and even storage purposes. People keep these things in their own homes, sometimes for years on end, without actually checking the contents to ensure that no one has added to, or replaced, the items they *thought* were contained therein. Aside from industrial, commercial and general storage purposes, boxes are even used by the US military. You can actually buy them at the US Post office.
Let me ask you: Is this right? Isn't it time a law is passed and something is finally done?
Thank you all.
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