August 23rd, 2011
11:26 AM ET

Suspicious device forces evacuation of city hall in Jacksonville, Florida

A bomb squad removed a suspicious device from the Jacksonville, Florida, city hall Tuesday, officials said.

The building was evacuated while the device was placed into a containment vehicle and safely transported to a sheriff department range, Sheriff John Rutherford said at a news conference Tuesday morning. The device - which had not been confirmed to be a bomb - would be blown apart and examined there, he said.

Workers were not allowed back into the building while bomb technicians completed a search for possible secondary devices, Rutherford said.

Mayor Alvin Brown said he was not in the building when the device was discovered by a security X-ray machine.

City officials said the evacuation would not disrupt preparations for Hurricane Irene, which is forecast to brush by Florida later this week.

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Filed under: Florida
soundoff (15 Responses)
  1. banasy©

    Was it in a package?
    Was it in a briefcase?
    What?
    'Mayor Alvin Brown said he was not in the building when the device was discovered by a security X-ray machine.'
    That's one hell of a large machine to ba able to X-ray a whole *building*!

    I've got family in Jacksonville.
    I'll call.

    August 23, 2011 at 11:49 am | Report abuse |
  2. RUFFNUTT

    it was a vibrater..

    August 23, 2011 at 12:10 pm | Report abuse |
  3. banasy©

    Ah, that's my Ruffie!

    August 23, 2011 at 12:12 pm | Report abuse |
  4. Sheriff John Rutherford

    it is most likely a vibrater.. i will have to take it home and preform test to confirm this..

    August 23, 2011 at 12:20 pm | Report abuse |
  5. Sheriff John Rutherford's wife

    finally!

    August 23, 2011 at 12:20 pm | Report abuse |
  6. Canadian Genius

    The pink-footed poodle lady (see previous story in archives) sent an alarm clock with some random wires and play-doh. She was making a political statement.

    August 23, 2011 at 12:20 pm | Report abuse |
    • Canadian Genius

      Actually, road flares would look more intimidating than play-doh on an x-ray scanner.

      I've given this too much thought, haven't I....

      August 23, 2011 at 12:22 pm | Report abuse |
  7. banasy©

    @Canadian Genius:

    Yes.
    Yes, you have!

    @Sheriff Ruffie:

    Lol.
    Thanks for the chuckle!

    August 23, 2011 at 12:49 pm | Report abuse |
  8. Sara

    it was LED light bulbs. it was also the 3rd time recently that a city building has been evacuated due to a bomb scare in the last couple of months. we're getting tired of it...

    August 23, 2011 at 2:43 pm | Report abuse |
  9. banasy©

    @Sara:

    While I appreciate the fact you are getting tired of being evacuated, it's for one's safety.
    I'd much rather be safe than sorry.
    It's usually when one let's their guard down that tragedy strikes.
    Look at it this way: a fresh-air break!

    (When I was a kid, I *loved* fire drills for the same reason. Except on really cold days, and when we had swimming in gym class!)

    August 23, 2011 at 3:34 pm | Report abuse |
  10. anonymous

    There was also a bomb threat at the University of North Alabama a little over an hour ago.

    August 23, 2011 at 3:49 pm | Report abuse |
  11. DNadeau

    Well obviously someone comming into the City Hall had his briefcase or bag scanned... That would be the end of that if the person being scanned said "Oh its a playstation 3 with a modified case" but obviously the guy would not divulge the contents of whatever the device is so this is pretty deep. This article is missing some seriously pertinent facts.

    August 23, 2011 at 4:27 pm | Report abuse |
  12. Ed C

    Only in Jacksonville would the local authorities confuse a PS3 to be a bomb. The better question to ask here would be why did some flipping fool bring a PS3 to city hall?

    August 23, 2011 at 6:09 pm | Report abuse |
  13. banasy©

    I seen Judges playing with Nintedo DS's; a PS3 is just taking it to the next level...

    August 23, 2011 at 7:45 pm | Report abuse |
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