Bag of Toys Prompts Chaotic Evacuation at Trump Tower

The president-elect wasn't there when suspicious package call came in
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Dec 27, 2016 6:55 PM CST
Stray Bag of Toys Prompts Scare at Trump Tower
New York police officers and others stand outside the Trump Tower lobby in New York, Tuesday, Dec 27, 2016.   (Craig Ruttle)

A stray backpack prompted the partial evacuation of Trump Tower on Tuesday, though bomb squad technicians quickly determined the unattended bag contained children's toys and was harmless, the AP reports. Video posted online showed people running through the Manhattan skyscraper's public lobby as uniformed police officers waved them toward the exits. NYPD spokesperson Stephen Davis said the bomb squad gave the "all clear" around 5pm after examining the backpack left near the entrance to Niketown, a store in the building. President-elect Donald Trump lives in the tower and has his offices there, though he was at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida when the bag was discovered.

Trump's newly appointed press secretary, Sean Spicer, tweeted that officials were "back to work" following the "false alarm." Shoppers and visitors to Trump's namesake skyscraper described a chaotic scramble. "It was hysteria," said 16-year-old Andy Martin. "Police were shouting and telling people to leave." Trump Tower, in addition to being the president-elect's home and business headquarters, contains residences, restaurants, retail stores—and a lobby that by law is open to the public daily from 8am to 10pm. (More Trump Tower stories.)

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