WCBSTV.com
New York
5/2/2010
Times Square was shut down on Saturday night after police officers found a suspicious package in the back seat of a car that was on fire. CBSPolice and bomb squad officers brought a robot to the scene of a car fire in Times Square to inspect a suspicious package left in the vehicle's back seat.
NEW YORK (CBS) ―Police said an SUV found parked on 45th Street was loaded with explosives, smoking and moments from blowing up when an alert t-shirt vendor noticed something wasn’t right and alerted a mounted police officer.
That officer evacuated the block and called for reinforcements.
“We avoided what could have been a very deadly event,” Mayor Bloomberg said.
“Firefighters, emergency service officers and the bomb squad responded and the bomb squad confirmed that the suspicious vehicle did indeed contain an explosive device,” Bloomberg said.
Packed inside the dark green Nissan Pathfinder were three propane tanks, consumer-grade fireworks, two full five-gallon gasoline containers, two clocks, some electrical wire, and a metal gun locker.
The vehicle was abandoned with its engine on and hazard lights flashing, but police don’t yet know who was driving it.
The article continues at WCBS.TV
