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All-clear given in Times Square scare
Police have blocked off parts of Times Square and evacuated people because of a suspicious cooler left in Times Square.
[Updated at 6:06 p.m.] Read the full CNN.com story
[Updated at 2:32 p.m.] Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York acknowledged after that incident that terrorists have targeted New York.
"We have to take every precaution, as you know, because we remain a prime target for terrorists," he said. "That's something all New Yorkers understand and it's something that we need Washington to understand as well."
"We will continue to doing everything we possibly can to protect New Yorkers from terrorist attacks. We have, as you know, built the most comprehensive and sophisticated counter terrorism operation of any local police force in the world."
[Updated at 2:24 p.m.] An all-clear was declared Friday after authorities investigated a suspicious package left in front of a hotel in Times Square and determined that it contained water bottles, police said.
[Updated at 2:10 p.m.] The New York Police Department has deployed a robot to X-ray the cooler that was abandoned in front of the Marriott Marquis hotel in Times Square, police told CNN's Susan Candiotti.
[Updated at 2:15 p.m.] A bomb squad robot has completed its X-ray of the suspicious cooler left in Times Square, CNN's Susan Candiotti reported. But, the results were inconclusive.
Members of the bomb squad are now suiting up to get a closer look.
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[Updated at 2:01 p.m.] CNN's Ali Velshi who is on 47th Street and Broadway reports: "Times Square is entirely empty" on certain blocks.
[Updated at 1:58 p.m.] Kathy Duffy, who is in her office at the Marriott Marquis hotel, told CNN the Times Square Alliance said there was an abandoned cooler left outside. Duffy said officials told her that the bomb squad was trying to determine if it was a threat. She said that the hotel has not been told to evacuate.
[Updated at 1:51 p.m.] A spokesman for the Times Square Alliance says, according to the NYPD, the following streets are closed:
- East bound on 46th Street from 8th Ave
- West bound on 45th Street from 6th Ave.
- And the Broadway and 7th Avenue plaza between 44th and 47th.
- 44th and 47th Streets themselves are not closed.
[Updated at 1:45 p.m.] The suspicious package that prompted evacuations in New York's Times Square is a white cooler that was left near the front of the Marriott Marquis Hotel, police told CNN.
The area is not far from where Faisal Shahzad left his SUV that had explosives in it.
People were evacuated from the streets of Times Square after a report of a suspicious package.
[Posted at 1:24 p.m.] Times Square has been evacuated after a suspicious package was found near 45th street, a New York Police Department official said.
The package was found near 45th Street and Broadway, officials said.
The evacuation comes six days after an SUV with explosives was left in Times Square resulting in the arrest of Faisal Shahzad.
This story is developing. We'll bring you the latest information as we get it.
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NOT AGAIN!!
this is serious and not funny to say the least
scary..
how quickly everyone forgets 911! They hope we become complacent so they can carry though with the actual deeds. We are not safe in this country until we stop giving our country and all our money away to everyone but our own citizens. Obama, wake up! Stop jetting around and looking pretty...PAY ATTENTION TO OUR OWN COUNTRY AND ITS CITIZENS! Just because you have a bunker to hide your family in where they cannot be touched...what about the rest of us?
Probably contains a ham sandwich and mountain dew, but might as well be safe and get the bomb squad in there.
Here we go again the terrosits are bound they are going to succed. I am afraid they will keep this up until the do suceed. This is not right and is very scary.
Better round up all the "te-bagger's " huh? Oh wait.... it was a terrorist from Pakistan, NOT a right wing conservative home-grown militia nut job who tried the truck bomb last week, wasn't it? Friggin eh!
Now all you need to disrupt our lives for several hours is an empty white cooler.
For all those conspiracy theorists... if our gov't is so terrible and trying to control by fear... Why the h*@l do you still live here??? We certainly wouldn't miss you if you left..
Great we are fast to respond...better safe than sorry. I have a feeling we are being tested...
So, if one of the horses around Central Park farts, will they evacuate for a Bio-threat?
Isn't it more plausible that someone was staying at the Mariott and was going to have a picnic in Central Park and forgot his cooler? This is absurd.
Paranoa big destroya
Why are people and companies still flocking to New York? Are you all insane or craving to live in fear and terror?
Sorry NY, but if I owned a company I would move it out of your city in a heart beat. That city should have emptied out after 9/11.
We are doing exactly as the "terrorists" want... changing our entire way of thinking and responding at any sign of danger or threat. I appreciate that we must be vigilant, but we must also not be afraid of every little thing... Have the object looked at, make a decision on how to proceed, do it quickly, and get on with things...
I'm more scared of the overtime and the 900 police who are not losing there job's because someon let a smoke bomb off in there car than I am of a cooler let unatendended. This crazy living you life in fear. I'd be scared to pay the rent in time square. I need a job can I be the official check it out person if there is a boogeman or whatever person I'll do it alot cheeper than the nypd. Wait till you get the bill. I'll a hell of a lot cheeper.