National Guard Armory evacuated in Florida after bomb report
Jul 21, 2015, 1:48 PM
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The National Guard Armory in Florida’s capital was evacuated Tuesday after a call to police reporting that a man said he had planted a bomb there.
Nothing suspicious had been found in the armory, on the eastern side of the city and nearly 5 miles from the state Capitol, Tallahassee police Officer David Northway said.
Only armory staff were present at the time of the threat, he said. They were allowed back in the building in the afternoon after police searched both the building and the grounds surrounding the armory.
Northway said the scare was sparked by a phone call to police. The caller, whom police have not identified, told police that a man approached him in the parking lot of a store near the armory and told him to call authorities because he had placed a bomb at the armory. Officers and a K-9 unit were brought to the shopping center, but police said they hadn’t located the man who allegedly made the threat.
Tallahassee police also placed nearby daycare centers, schools and churches on lockdown.
The incident comes five days after 24-year-old Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez fatally shot four Marines and a sailor at two military sites in Chattanooga.
On Saturday, Florida Gov. Rick Scott ordered that six storefront recruiting offices across the state be moved into nearby armories. Scott also ordered that every member of the National Guard be armed.
Northway said that police already routinely do extra patrols around the armory when it is closed.
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