Atlanta Federal Building, Peachtree Summit, Evacuated, Bomb Squad Sent

ATLANTA (AP)- Police say they evacuated a federal building in downtown Atlanta and sent in the bomb squad after a suspicious package was found.

Atlanta police Officer Otis Redmond says workers X-raying packages in the mail room of the Peachtree Summit Federal Building found the suspicious package Tuesday.

Authorities closed down some surrounding streets. Federal and local law enforcement officers were seen in front of the building and workers were milling around nearby after being evacuated.

Members of the Atlanta police bomb squad were suiting up to examine the suspicious package.
The building houses federal agencies including the Internal Revenue Service and Social Security. It is routine to X-ray packages that come into the mail room.

Comments

[devildog09]

04:21 PM on 06/08/2010

Lots of critical comments here. I guess the moral of the story is that you should only raise the alarm if you are absolutely positive that there is a genuine threat. That is, until something blows up and kills a bunch of people because the authorities didn't want to disturb the public. THen calls will go out for their heads to roll, and "better safe than sorry" will be the mantra

[Bumpier Shrimp]

04:18 PM on 06/08/2010

Turned out to be just a copy of Ashton Kutcher's latest movie. Would scare me too.

[totalliberal]

03:06 PM on 06/08/2010

Wow, it is so easy to freak out the American media. For that matter, Americans in general.

[MollieinATL]

02:38 PM on 06/08/2010

It was a package of crystal eggs - that looked like grenades in the xray. Whew! Love a cute ending!

[FrTown]

02:29 PM on 06/08/2010

Yeah, that's right; Keep the jitter index (threat level) at Orange or Red and set the fear factor on high. That's how you can make the whole population docile and submissive. Never mind endless vvars. Oil spill? What spill? The "villains-du-jour" are coming!!!

[GAPeach99]

02:27 PM on 06/08/2010

Local news channet says its a 'non-threatening' glass object.
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/23830974/detail.html

False alarm.

[KristenDarden]

02:33 PM on 06/08/2010

Well....that was probally a nice little break for some milling around. I'm sure just about every package had something to take a second look at. Better safe then sorry.

[imayes]

02:39 PM on 06/08/2010

Reminds me of the scene from the movie Carwash where the guy in the trench coat got tackled by one of the car wash employees for what turned out to be a urine sample.

[Christopher Daley]

02:25 PM on 06/08/2010

I can't imagine how scary something like this must be. I was in a theater where some one left a package on a seat and left. Scared the crud out of me.

www.csdaley.com

[Horus45]

03:06 PM on 06/08/2010

Few years ago I was sitting in DFW airport when a middle eastern woman sat down next to me with a couple of boxes.
After a few minutes she got up and walked away and left the boxes on the floor next to me.
I got a little freaked out and called security over and instead of evacuating everyone from around the box he just walked up and OPENED the box!
Luckily it only contained a CD player, I kept thinking at what an idiot that guard was!

[acapo]

02:25 PM on 06/08/2010

So it was a false alarm?

[DanMan2012]

02:24 PM on 06/08/2010

Is this one of those diversion terror deals they have talking about?

[ywcachieve]

02:21 PM on 06/08/2010

Another 'suspicious' package.

[Rand]

03:05 PM on 06/08/2010

I hereby declare that wcachieve be the one to check out ALL suspicious packages

After all, he/she seems to automatically know which are nothing to be concerned about

And, in the event that one IS a bomb, he/she will discover why these things are taken seriously and will regret the nonchalant attitude for the milliseconds left

[RickshawJohnson]

02:10 PM on 06/08/2010

I am at work right down the street. Hope it isn't anything bad.

[ywcachieve]

02:17 PM on 06/08/2010

Are you working hard, or hardly working?

[Clearing-Brush]

03:11 PM on 06/08/2010

I'm a block away also. They were evacuated into our building. Glad it was nothing.

[vesaversa1]

02:02 PM on 06/08/2010

So that where all the emergency vehicles was going to down town . I live in Atlanta and notice something was going down after seeing a army of fire, police and emergency vehicles going down town .

[Dog Whistle Translator]

02:43 PM on 06/08/2010

sale at Dunkin donuts

[davesf]

02:01 PM on 06/08/2010

I have an idea. Let's not "suppose" that whatever this is, either Muslim extremists or Tea Party nut jobs are responsible, and wait to find out what it is first. If it's a bomb or something, then let's wait and figure out who sent it. Then we can be as hyperbolic as we want.

[Bat Wrangler]

01:53 PM on 06/08/2010

The bomb scare may turn out to be nothing more than Ashley Simpson's latest CD. Which in itself qualifies as a WMD.

[Jerry Drake]

01:51 PM on 06/08/2010

Terrible. This terrifies me every time I hear this sort of news - especially as someone sitting inside a federal building.

[GiantsFan44]

02:02 PM on 06/08/2010

I sure hope you are not at work right now?

[fuppedup]

02:07 PM on 06/08/2010

Thats funny...Good point. The farm service is probably slow there days...

[acapo]

02:25 PM on 06/08/2010

Get back to work!