Bomb false alarm closes several uptown streets for four hours

The city of Athens' parking garage reopened at 1:30 Monday afternoon   after a bomb scare closed down the garage and surrounding streets and sidewalks for most of the midday.

Athens Assistant Service-Safety Director Ron Lucas said that the Athens Police Department received a report of a suspicious package in the city parking garage at 9:33 a.m.

The Columbus Fire Department Bomb Squad was called to investigate the package, and the area was evacuated in order to take necessary precautions to protect the public, Lucas said.

"The package was determined by qualified individuals to not be a threat," he said. "The response demonstrated the ability of emergency response crews to effectively manage a potential incident."

Lucas said that the incident remains under investigation.

During the bomb squad's investigation, East Washington Street between Court and College streets was closed to vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Also, College Street was closed to vehicular and pedestrian traffic between Union and Mill streets. Court Street remained open to auto and foot traffic.

Lucas said that safety officials imposed a "soft evacuation" on the buildings surrounding the garage, including the Athens City Building, an office building next to the garage and Chase Bank. He said that Ohio University evacuated Kantner Hall on College Street in response to the situation.

After sending in robotic equipment to investigate the package, officials carried out what appeared to be a hard black plastic case with a brown plastic shopping bag inside filled with material that was not immediately identifiable.

Lucas said that the package was found in a parking space on the upper portion of the first floor of the garage. He said that officials were unable to determine anything from city cameras installed in the garage.

There is no cost incurred by the city for calling in the Columbus bomb squad, Lucas said.