.Bomb scare snarls traffic
Was your drive home from work Friday even more of a nightmare than usual?
Blame the abandoned silver hearse under the Palmetto Expressway overpass at Northwest 27th Avenue..
A Miami Gardens police officer found the hearse around 4:45 p.m.
It stood empty in the southbound lanes of 27th Avenue.
Witnesses later told police they had seen a tatooed man exit the hearse, check under the hood and walk away.
The officer peered inside and spotted what looked like weapons or explosives, Miami Gardens Police Capt. Ralph Suarez said.
“The officer was concerned enough from what he saw to stop pedestrian and vehicle traffic,” Suarez said.
The Miami-Dade Police Department bomb squad rushed to the scene.
Police shut down the Palmetto in both directions from Northwest 17th to 37th avenues, snarling traffic during rush hour.
Traffic also came to a standstill on I-95 and the Florida Turnpike near the Golden Glades Interchange.
It took Maria Garcia, 66, more than three hours to get from Hialeah to Miami Gardens on the Palmetto.
Gabriel Nuñez, 23, said he was stuck near the exit for Northwest 27th Avenue for nearly two hours.
He climbed on top of his red Nissan to get a glimpse of what was happening, but couldn’t see much.
Scores of motorists turned to Twitter and Facebook to complain.
Joe Sanchez, a spokesman for the Florida Highway Patrol, said he understood the frustration.
But, he said, “our No. 1 priority was to make sure people’s lives are protected.”
Police officers also evacuated as many nearby homes and businesses as possible.
Xiomara Lorenzo, 44, had just started her shift at a nearby Shell gas station when a police officer came in and said there might be a vehicle full of explosives outside.
“I was scared it might go off,” the gas station clerk said.
Lorenzo quickly moved the money from the cash register to the safe, turned off the pumps and locked the gas station door.
She followed crowds of anxious people down the street in the opposite direction of the hearse.
A bomb squad robot spent several hours inspecting the vehicle.
The remote-controlled robot removed at least four large black bags from the hearse, witnesses said.
It continued searching the vehicle well after the sun had set.
So what was inside the hearse? And who was the mysterious tattooed man?
The investigation continued past 10 p.m. with no clear answers.
Suarez said this was the first bomb scare of this magnitude for Miami Gardens.
“We’re taking it as seriously as we can, especially given the timing of the incident and the position of the vehicle,” he said.
Meanwhile, motorists continued complaining in cyberspace.
Miami Herald
Has anyone checked to see if the ATF is missing a hearse?
Sort of makes one long for the good old days when the abandoned hearses were just full of cocaine.
Blame the abandoned silver hearse under the Palmetto Expressway overpass at Northwest 27th Avenue..
A Miami Gardens police officer found the hearse around 4:45 p.m.
It stood empty in the southbound lanes of 27th Avenue.
Witnesses later told police they had seen a tatooed man exit the hearse, check under the hood and walk away.
The officer peered inside and spotted what looked like weapons or explosives, Miami Gardens Police Capt. Ralph Suarez said.
“The officer was concerned enough from what he saw to stop pedestrian and vehicle traffic,” Suarez said.
The Miami-Dade Police Department bomb squad rushed to the scene.
Police shut down the Palmetto in both directions from Northwest 17th to 37th avenues, snarling traffic during rush hour.
Traffic also came to a standstill on I-95 and the Florida Turnpike near the Golden Glades Interchange.
It took Maria Garcia, 66, more than three hours to get from Hialeah to Miami Gardens on the Palmetto.
Gabriel Nuñez, 23, said he was stuck near the exit for Northwest 27th Avenue for nearly two hours.
He climbed on top of his red Nissan to get a glimpse of what was happening, but couldn’t see much.
Scores of motorists turned to Twitter and Facebook to complain.
Joe Sanchez, a spokesman for the Florida Highway Patrol, said he understood the frustration.
But, he said, “our No. 1 priority was to make sure people’s lives are protected.”
Police officers also evacuated as many nearby homes and businesses as possible.
Xiomara Lorenzo, 44, had just started her shift at a nearby Shell gas station when a police officer came in and said there might be a vehicle full of explosives outside.
“I was scared it might go off,” the gas station clerk said.
Lorenzo quickly moved the money from the cash register to the safe, turned off the pumps and locked the gas station door.
She followed crowds of anxious people down the street in the opposite direction of the hearse.
A bomb squad robot spent several hours inspecting the vehicle.
The remote-controlled robot removed at least four large black bags from the hearse, witnesses said.
It continued searching the vehicle well after the sun had set.
So what was inside the hearse? And who was the mysterious tattooed man?
The investigation continued past 10 p.m. with no clear answers.
Suarez said this was the first bomb scare of this magnitude for Miami Gardens.
“We’re taking it as seriously as we can, especially given the timing of the incident and the position of the vehicle,” he said.
Meanwhile, motorists continued complaining in cyberspace.
Miami Herald
Has anyone checked to see if the ATF is missing a hearse?
Sort of makes one long for the good old days when the abandoned hearses were just full of cocaine.
posted by madtom at 9:21 PM
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