Suspicious package found outside South Carolina coffee shop

Friday, September 21, 2007 

A briefcase containing magnets, batteries and a cell phone sitting in the bushes outside a Charleston, South Carolina coffee shop drew the local bomb squad's attention, before it was determined that it contained no explosives.

Police had earlier closed down Calhoun Street in downtown, where the coffee shop is located, but reopened the street and let local residents and business owners that the situation was over after performing an investigation.

Customers inside the shop called police around 9:00 a.m. when they found the package by a bush, but some reports say the package was found near cars parked on the street.

As a precaution, the president of the College of Charleston dismissed classes for the day, before taking in a round of golf himself.

It is not known what was inside the package.

Sources

• "Police: Suspicious package had no explosives" — Charlotte Obsever, September 22, 2007
• "President Off Campus During Bomb Scare" — ABC News, September 21, 2007
• "Suspicious package found in Charleston" — WPDE, September 21, 2007
• "Suspicious package draws Charleston police" — MSNBC, September 21, 2007
• Associated Press. "Suspicious package found in downtown Charleston" — The State, September 21, 2007