New evacuation at Time Warner Center, home of CNN HQ, over 'suspicious package'
Police briefly evacuated the Time Warner Center in New York for a second time in two days as a precaution after finding two unattended packages at a mall located in the building.
The evacuation came on the heels of Wednesday’s bomb scare, in which an explosive device addressed to former CIA director John Brennan was discovered in CNN’s mail room. That device was one of 10 mailed to prominent Democrats and other public figures who have been critical of the Trump administration.
Columbus Circle evac take 2 tonight at Time Warner Ctr. pic.twitter.com/XX03YPGyGH
— Tony Morrison (@THETonyMorrison) October 25, 2018
Shortly before the Thursday evacuation, a Florida courthouse was evacuated when officials discovered a suspicious device with protruding wires in the building. Federal investigators are zeroing in on South Florida as the origin of the packages, none of which exploded and all of which were intercepted before reaching their targets.
As a precaution, the NYPD is currently evaluating a pair of unattended packages at the Time Warner Center Mall, Columbus Circle in Manhattan. More information will be released as it becomes available. pic.twitter.com/VqrzHZJ6zv
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) October 26, 2018
Police evacuated the first, second, and third floors of the shopping center “out of an abundance of caution” as they investigated the suspicious items. The CNN offices do not appear to have been affected.
Asked of NYPD what is happening, was told “it’s a drill”Obviously, this is some drill at 730pm on a week like this.
— Tony Morrison (@THETonyMorrison) October 25, 2018
The NYPD gave the all-clear about an hour after the evacuation, after investigating the packages and determining they were not a threat.
The unattended packages being evaluated by the @nypdnews at the Time Warner Center Mall. have been cleared. No threat or danger. https://t.co/gcrIkJA3jd
— NYPD DCPI (@NYPDDCPI) October 26, 2018
