On Tuesday afternoon, part of President-elect Donald Trump’s Trump Tower building was evacuated. Someone left a suspicious backpack in the lobby. The incident happened around 4:45 p.m. local time. The New York Fire Department said they had units standing by.
Only the lobby area was evacuated. Trump himself is at his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago.
A spokesman for Trump’s team, Sean Spicer, said the unattended package was outside of their security checkpoint. It has since been examined and deemed “safe.”
The all-clear was given at 5:07 p.m. after officials examined the backpack, and found it full of toys.
The New York Police Department’s Assistant Commissioner for Communication & Public Information, J. Peter Donald, tweeted:
Out of an abundance of caution, NYPD Bomb Squad is responding to a suspicious package in the lobby of Trump Tower. Updates to follow
— J. Peter Donald (@JPeterDonald) December 27, 2016
New York Times reporter Sarah Maslin said the traffic around the building was stopped as well.
That area was already congested with holiday traffic:
City buses diverted down 55th St., West instead of down Madison Ave. Madison Closed between 55&58. Traffic jammed,honking, stopped for miles
— Sarah Maslin Nir (@SarahMaslinNir) December 27, 2016
Law enforcement recently conducted training sessions on how to get Trump out of New York City in the event of an emergency. Retired Army Maj. Mike Lyons and a current military analyst said:
“Police and law enforcement have got to be creative as terrorists could be in recognizing that during 9/11 they weren’t able to evacuate anyone from the rooftop. The first thing they are likely looking at is a possibility from Trump Tower.”
Trump Tower is a 58-story skyscraper on Fifth Avenue between 56th and 57th Streets. It serves as the headquarters for the Trump Organization. It is also Donald Trump’s primary residence. It has also served as a headquarters for his transition team. He has been using the building to interview candidates for the cabinet positions that he is trying to fill.
https://youtu.be/kEuhUaArbS8
This is an evolving story. Please stay tuned for updates as they are released.
Featured image by Brad via Flickr/CC-By-2.0.
