For most of Wednesday Downtown Tucson was shut down and evacuated after a law enforcement dog hit on a white box van parked legally down town near the court house. What really happened?

According to 9 news:

Web Producer: Ina Ronquillo

Reporter:  Jessica Chapin

TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) – Tucson Police have determined that there are no explosives in a white box-truck parked near downtown. Bomb Squad technicians did locate ammunition, guns, and military clothing inside.

Authorities questioned the driver of the suspicious vehicle that caused the evacuation of several buildings and prompted several road closures.

Maria Hawke, a spokesperson with Tucson Police tells KGUN9 police were contacted by U.S. Marshall’s after a K9 showed “interest” in a white box truck at Broadway Boulevard and Scott Avenue.

“It happened to be the location where he parked at, the proximity to the building, the amount of time that it was there, those types of things that sparked the Marshall’s concerns and that spawned the series of events,” said Hawke.

Bomb Squad personnel responded to area to determine if there was risk of explosion associated with the vehicle.  After finding there was no immediate danger, police continued their investigation and kept roads closed.  9 On Your Side’s Jessica Chapin asked officers why it took so long after determining there were no explosives.

“There was a large amount of material in the back of that truck,” said Hawke, “We need to inventory and go  through all of the stuff, document it to ensure that there’s nothing that could be harmful to any of our personnel or the community.”

The roadways in the area opened after 5 p.m. Wednesday afternoon.  Police say the vehicle’s owner was questioned, but faces no charges.  They haven’t released any more details on the reason that vehicle was parked downtown.

 

KGUN9-TV certainly sensationalized it and their ending comment was that we may never know what happened.  A guy parks downtown to take care of business in the wrong place at the wrong time, how was he supposed to know?  This is defiantly a testament to our area security. I commend all of our law enforcement agencies for their swift and organized actions. This was a great example of interagency cooperation should there be a real threat.

However, when the truth is discovered let the public know, there is no embarrassment in saying whoops when the publics safety is involved.

It appears that the driver parked a suspicious looking truck just a little to close to a government building and he was actually a completely legal vender that sells at gun shows with a Federal Firearms License and a dealer of military surplus, ammo and accessories. Of course this truck is going to have a very special scent.  Over all, good Job!

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 29th, 2011 at 8:41 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.