SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Sept. 25, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — The U.S. Bank Tower is being fully evacuated and nearby buildings have been put on a shelter-in-place order as an investigation into a suspicious object continues near 20 W. 200 South in Salt Lake City.
Agencies that have responded to the scene include the FBI, the Air National Guard, the county bomb squad, and the Salt Lake City Police and Fire departments.
Lt. Mark Wian told reporters at the scene that a call came in just before 8 a.m. Monday with the report of a suspicious object in an alley near U.S. Bank, at 170 S. Main St.
Asked about what made the object suspicious, Wian did not give details.
“There’s something here that just doesn’t seem right. It’s out of the ordinary. So when we get here it starts with that initial response with our patrol officers working with our on-duty watch commander to determine how we need to scale it up or scale it down.
“Clearly we have scaled it up,” in order to cover all the bases with available resources from around the valley, Wian said.
“We’re fortunate to partner with the Air National Guard, the county Bomb Squad, the FBI, the fire department to work together collaboratively … to make sure that we’re reaching a peaceful resolution.”
Asked at about 1:15 p.m. when South Temple between between Main Street and West Temple will be reopened, Wian said that will depend on findings of the investigation.
“This area will be impacted for as long as it takes. Again, we want to make sure that we’re doing what we need to, to keep the priority of community safety at the top of our minds.
“We recognize that there are impacts especially as we’re going to come into that later afternoon hour where people are now going to start heading home for the day or coming in for eating activities. We have just asked the community to continue to be patient.”
The roadway is closed to vehicle and bicycle traffic, and to pedestrians.
Cpt. Chad Jepperson, Salt Lake City Fire Department, said his agency has “about six fire apparatus, about 20 firefighters, including medical, fire and hazmat, to handle basically anything that comes at us with resources that we’ve got.”
Wian said if a greater threat is detected, more resources are “just a phone call away.”
Gephardt Daily will have more information as it becomes available.
