A stray backpack prompted the partial evacuation of Trump Tower on Tuesday, though bomb squad technicians quickly determined the unattended bag contained children’s toys and was harmless.
Video posted online showed people running through the Manhattan skyscraper’s public lobby as uniformed police officers waved them toward the exits.
Stephen Davis, the New York Police Department’s top spokesman, said the bomb squad gave the “all clear” around 5pm after examining the backpack left near the entrance to Niketown, a store in the building.
President-elect Donald Trump lives in the tower and has his offices there, though he was at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida when the bag was discovered. His newly appointed press secretary, Sean Spicer, Tweeted that officials were “back to work” following the “false alarm.”
Shoppers and visitors to Trump’s namesake skyscraper described a chaotic scramble. “It was hysteria,” said Andy Martin, a 16-year-old from the New York City suburb of Huntington. “Police were shouting and telling people to leave.” (AP)