Police threw the city of Gatlinburg, Tennessee, into high alert and evacuated a large section of the downtown commercial strip Monday morning after reports of a “suspicious package.”
Police aren’t taking chances
Everyone in America is edgy these days but in Tennessee, they’re especially nervous since an RV exploded early Christmas morning which took out a major AT&T switch facility. Nobody can blame the Gatlinburg police for evacuating a neighborhood in precaution. Monday morning’s incident thankfully turned out to be a false alarm.
Roads have reopened to traffic and pedestrians after police gave the all clear signal. The incident began around 10:00 a.m. Monday when someone called in a report, saying there was a suspicious package in the vicinity of “Puckers,” described as “a sports bar in the midst of a commercial strip on the Parkway downtown.”
City officials decided not to take any chances so they roped off an area surrounding the suspicious object for about 300 feet, “closing it to pedestrian and vehicle traffic.” Police emphasized at the time that the evacuation was only a “precaution.”
Official press release
According to the official statement released to the press by Gatlinburg authorities, “Police are stationed at the corner of River Road and Maples Lane” and the Sevier County Sheriff’s Department Bomb Squad had been called in to investigate.
Once they arrived, the Bomb Squad was able to confirm that “the package did not contain explosive devices.” Details as to what was in the package have not yet been released. This incident was reported as it was unfolding and additional details will be provided as they become available.
The investigation into the Christmas day explosion indicates that the terrorist acted alone and was motivated by concerns regarding the safety of 5G technology. A suspect has been identified and DNA verifies the human remains recovered from the scene was, in fact, Anthony Warner.
