BOSTON, Dec. 4 (UPI) — Boston police detonated a suspicious package left near a marked Homeland Security vehicle Friday by a man who hurried away.
Police said the man, about 40 years old, and wearing a green coat and jeans, left a suitcase near a Coast Guard office on Atlantic Avenue about 9:50 a.m. The bomb squad deployed a remote-controlled robot to detonate the suitcase after technicians using an X-ray detected wires and a power source inside the suitcase.
After detonating it, police Commissioner William F. Evans said the wires and other items inside were not related to an explosive. Evans said police took a “better safe than sorry” approach to the incident.
Police said the man is not a suspect but investigators want to talk to him to find out why he left the suitcase.
“What bothers us is the behavior and why this individual placed it next to a Homeland Security vehicle and then hurried away,” said Evans. “Unfortunately I think we’re all on a little bit of a heightened alert because of what happened in San Bernardino [Calif]. People have a right to be concerned.”
