Roanoke, VA - A suspicious package
addressed to the Clerk of Court in Roanoke prompted U.S. Marshals to call in
the Virginia State Police and Roanoke City Police bomb units this morning.
As the package was being screened during normal mail reception, Court
Security Officers noticed what appeared to be unusual components inside
which gave the appearance of a possible explosive device. The package was
removed from the building and contained in a parking lot until it could be
examined by bomb technicians. U.S. Marshals conducted an investigation to
determine the origin of the package and were able to track down the sender
who advised that the package contained an external hard drive being shipped
to the clerk’s office in an on-going federal court case.
Out of an “abundance of caution” a bomb sniffing
dog from the Roanoke Police Department was called in to inspect the package,
which proved to be negative for explosives. Based on the investigation, the
package was opened without incident and deemed to be safe.
More on the U.S. Marshals and the historic
Western District of Virginia can be found on the internet at
http://www.usmarshals.gov . |