Chattanooga police blow up suspicious package

photo Chattanooga police officers hold their fingers to their ears to stifle the sound of the Chattanooga Bomb squad destroying a package found behind the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Building Friday afternoon. At around 1:30 a package was left behind the building and was investigated by police. It was found not to be an explosive but was destroyed by the Chattanooga Bomb Squad.
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Investigators are looking for a man who set a small package at a back door of Chattanooga's U.S. Bankruptcy Court building Friday afternoon, triggering an evacuation of three downtown government buildings.

Chattanooga police bomb squad members determined the small package contained no explosives, but not before cordoning off the block, stationing firetrucks along the perimeters and sending a carefully suited bomb technician to check it out.

"You just never know," said police spokesman Officer Nathan Hartwig. "Some people have a vendetta against big government or some measure they don't like."

The package, covered in metallic wrapping, was found on the building's west side about 1:30 p.m., Hartwig said, and security officials were alerted. Police blew up the package.

When reviewing surveillance video, officials saw a black man in a red jersey, shorts and backward-facing New York Yankees ball cap set the package down at the entrance and walk away.

No charges are pending, though the FBI and the Chattanooga police are looking for the man who placed the package.

After the package was discovered, officials quickly evacuated the federal building, along with Chattanooga City Hall and the City Hall Annex.

"It's an unfortunate disruption," said Mayor Ron Littlefield, who was sweating out the wait with other city workers in 95-degree heat outside City Hall. "We try to get a lot of things done on Fridays."

City Treasurer Gayle Keown, who sought shade in the shadow of a parking deck, said she's been through her fair share of evacuations for fire alarms and gas leaks during her 47 years at City Hall.

"This is definitely more extensive than anything we've had to deal with, though," she said.

Anyone with information about the incident or the man on the surveillance video is asked to contact the FBI at 423-265-3601 or the Chattanooga Police Department at 423-698-2525.

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