On Monday Sept. 15, a suspicious package was found in a parking garage in West Chester, which led to the evacuation of neighboring buildings. The package was later discovered to be an explosive device.A parking attendant in Mosteller parking garage located on Chestnut Street, witnessed a person dressed in black clothing leaving the building at about 7: 25 a.m. Soon after, the parking attendant found a suspicious package that may have been left there by the person who was seen leaving the parking garage. The parking attendant then called the police.
The West Chester Police alerted the Montgomery County bomb squad who discovered another two packages that were non-explosive. The FBI and the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and explosives (ATF) joined in the investigation. The bomb squad disabled the explosive.
The bomb had wires, a metal pipe, a container of unknown liquid and a circuit board. Components of the bomb are being examined at the ATF lab.
Throughout the day, many surrounding buildings were evacuated for safety reasons. Parts of High, Walnut, and Chestnut streets were blocked off and traffic was detoured around the garage until 5: 30 p.m. From then on, everything re-opened excluding part of Chestnut Street in front of the garage.
“My sister called me later that night to tell me that there was a bomb threat in West Chester. I saw the helicopters (earlier), but I didn’t know what they were for at the time,” said Colleen Hendricks.
Investigators searched for evidence in the parking garage; they do not want to compromise the on-going investigation by releasing certain information. A security door that is always locked was found opened. It may not be relevant to the case.
Police checked neighboring buildings’ surveillance tapes to search for the persons responsible for putting the packages in the garage. Authorities also do not believe that there is a connection between this bomb scare and the case of the suburban bomber.
The suburban bomber set 20 bombs in Chester and Montgomery Counties over the time span from March 2000 to Nov. 2001. During that time no one was hurt, though the bombs were considered dangerous and deadly. To this day the suspect and the motive for these acts are unknown.
The suspect’s motive and targets are unknown. Police have released a photograph of the person wearing all black that was seen at the garage in the morning at the time the package was found. The parking garage is often used by jurors, though the reason for targeting the garage has yet to be theorized.
On Tuesday Sept. 16, West Chester Police responded to a call at 4:25 p.m. about a suspicious bag found outside of Mosteller parking garage, the same building as the bomb scare the day before this occurred.
The Montgomery County Bomb Squad examined the bag, which turned out to be full of clothing. Regardless that this time it was a false alarm, authorities would like to remind citizens to alert someone when finding a suspicious item such as this.
The West Chester Police, Montgomery County Bomb Squad, the FBI, and ATF responded accordingly and took the appropriate measures to secure the area and ignited the explosive properly and safely.
Ginger Rae Dunbar is a second-year student majoring in English with a minor in journalism. She can be reached at RD655287@wcupa.edu.