Dozens of evacuees remained at the Middletown borough building Wednesday afternoon as police investigated a potential threat that shut down several residential blocks.
Police closed down Union Street from Emaus to Water streets, and people were evacuated east and west of the site, in addition to those who live on Union.
Evacuees told PennLive they were told to leave about 1 p.m. and heard police were investigating bomb materials or a bomb threat, but officials would not confirm what prompted the evacuation or what police were investigating.
“It’s an ongoing situation,” Mayor Jim Curry told PennLive. “Everybody is safe.”
Cannot see the map? Click here.
Pennsylvania State Police, however, confirmed their bomb unit was on scene.
A law enforcement source who did not want to be identified told PennLive police were investigating potential explosives found in a man’s home. The source was not authorized to speak publicly about the incident.
A vehicle that looked like it had a detonation chamber attached showed up at the scene shortly after 5 p.m.
Curry said he was going to let first responders do their jobs before putting out any specific public statements on the incident.
Curry and Council President Ian Reddinger handed out 10 to 15 pizzas to evacuees, school children and first responders at the borough building. Some students were dropped off at the building, where they could be picked up by their parents. The pizza was donated by a local shop called Tony’s, Reddinger said.
Curry said they wanted to make sure the evacuees weren’t hungry since they are being kept from their homes. Curry didn’t know the exact number of evacuees but said there were at least two dozen and that number likely would grow since the incident was dragging on past 5 p.m. when many people would be trying to return home after work.
As the situation continued close to 7 p.m., officers were helping residents by retrieving important items from their homes in the restricted zone. Officers were asked to get a puppy out and some medication.
Harold Dixon, who lives on Spring Street said police knocked on his door and said his family needed to evacuate and stay away from the building. He said he was told they found explosives off Girard Avenue. He has two kids and said he was trying to get his family to safety as quickly as possible.
“It’s a small quiet town, nothing really gets going out here, not like, dangerous,” Dixon said. “So for it to be a bomb threat, that’s pretty serious.”
Tierra Hopple’s 7-year-old son needed to be picked up early from a nearby daycare around 3 p.m.
At first she wasn’t too concerned by the early closure, but then one of the daycare workers told her about the possible threat.
“From what we were told, it’s a little scarier than just an ‘incident report,’” Hopple sad. “That’s kinda vague, which scares us more than anything.”
She said the conflicting information from the police vs. the daycare, which told parents to pick up their kids immediately, was scary.
“It’s in the middle of nowhere,” she said. “Of all the places that something like this could be occurring, I don’t know why it’s in a Middletown road with nothing major.”
“If this isn’t safe, then where is?”
READ MORE:
‘Something is clearly wrong’: Why does Middletown spend so much in police overtime every year?
"Scene" - Google News
September 09, 2021 at 04:36AM
https://ift.tt/3BSIC6D
Bomb squad on scene, neighbors evacuated near Middletown police incident - PennLive
"Scene" - Google News
https://ift.tt/36mRPVq
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
No comments:
Post a Comment