Bomb Scare Turns Out To Be Love Letters
CROSS PLAINS TENNESSEE: (Smokey Barn News) – Around 11am Friday morning, a Cross Plains man woke up to find a large box wrapped in Christmas paper in the middle of his driveway. Attached to the box was a note that read, “Open ASAP.” According to police, the man was in town temporarily on an internship and was not expecting a delivery of this nature and had no idea who might be sending him gifts. Something about the package just didn’t add up, so the decision was made to call 911.
Within minutes, the Robertson County Emergency Management Agency Special Response Team arrived at the home located off Hwy 31W near Guthrie Rd. The call went out as a suspicious package. The property owner noted that the package was not there at 8am, so sometime between 8am and 11am the package was delivered.
According to Robertson County Emergency Management Agency Director RL Douglas, a package can be labeled as suspicious based on several factors, such as location, shape and size. This package was left in the middle of a driveway wrapped in Christmas paper. It was fairly large, about 36 by 36 inches, and it was delivered near Halloween. This one definitely met the criteria of suspicious, Douglas said.
The Special Response Team serves on the Homeland District 7 Bomb Squad. The team dispatched a B.A.O. “Bomb Awareness Officer” to the scene.
A video-scope equipped with a digital light was brought to the scene. Wearing a special protective vest and a ballistic helmet, the B.A.O. used the special camera to look inside the box. The camera revealed that the box contained two plastic bottles containing some kind of clear liquid. The two bottles in the big box seemed suspicious to the B.A.O. so they were carefully examined. “There were no visible wires, trigger or power source visible inside the box but the camera offers a limited view,” Douglas said.
The B.A.O. then very slowly and methodically opened the box, Douglas said. Once the lid of the box was opened, officials confirmed, there was no triggering device. The B.A.O. then carefully removed the two plastic bottles. The clear liquid inside the bottles was then tested with chemical strips and PH paper. The tests revealed that the substance in the two bottles was just water.
In total, the large box contained two love letters, a very small stuffed animal and the two liter bottles of water.
Cross Plains Police was in charge of the investigation. According to Logan Abernathy with the Cross Plains Police Department, the resident of the home had stopped talking to a woman he had met online a short time ago. The box containing the love letters and stuffed animal was the woman’s attempt to communicate with him. There was no criminal intent with the package, so no charges will be filed, Abernathy said.
Why the two bottles of water? The woman told police that the two bottles of water were placed inside the box to keep it from blowing away, police said.
Cross Plains Fire and Police, as well as the Robertson County Emergency Management Agency and Robertson County EMS all responded to the call.
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