Bedford, New Hampshire Police Update Public on Bomb Squad Incident
It was a scary night on Friday night in Bedford, New Hampshire, but more so scary due to the unknown. And the bomb squad. A bomb squad will definitely instill some fear in the public.
In case you missed it, according to the Union Leader, the Bedford Police were called by a clerk working at the Circle K gas station on Technology Drive after he said a suspicious-looking man had left a random suitcase at the gas station and walked out. After checking out the suitcase, Bedford PD evacuated the gas station and called in the bomb squad after some suspicious-looking items were inside, including wiring, to proceed with a controlled detonation.
WMUR reported that after the incident, Bedford PD was looking to identify the man (who really had no description given about him other than he looked suspicious) that dropped the suitcase and walked off. There had been no real update about the situation throughout the weekend and no surveillance photos or video released.
However, late yesterday, the Bedford Police Department released its own update, and there is no threat to the public at all. In essence, the entire situation was one massive misunderstanding.
According to Bedford PD, a customer of the gas station was cleaning out their car at one of the service vacuums and forgot to put their work bag and work boots back into their car before taking off. A different customer noticed the bag outside and brought it inside to the store and left it on the counter while the clerk was elsewhere.
Talk about a massive misunderstanding! But even though that's all this was, it couldn't have been handled any better. From the clerk calling the police when being weary of the bag/suitcase, to Bedford PD playing it safe and performing a controlled detonation on the items since they seemed suspicious, to investigating further to find out what really happened -- and most importantly, keeping the public informed.
Extremely thankful that this was the outcome. No charges will be filed, and everyone is safe and sound for another day.