The bomb squad was called back to West Chester yesterday for another suspicious item found outside the same downtown parking garage where a deadly explosive was found on Monday.
This time, it was a false alarm - just a bag of clothing.
The call to authorities came at 4:25 p.m. from an unnamed woman who saw the bag and thought it looked suspicious in light of Monday's bomb scare. "We're asking citizens to be vigilant, and she did the right thing," West Chester Police Chief Scott L. Bohn said.
Investigators were working to identify the source of the explosive left Monday.
Bohn said a person wearing a black hooded sweatshirt with the hood up, a black baseball-style cap, and black pants, whose gender was unknown, ran from the parking garage after being seen by the attendant before the attendant called 911 on Monday morning. Bohn said the individual, whom investigators would like to talk to, might have run west on Chestnut Street.
The bomb, discovered by the Mosteller Garage attendant Monday at 7:25 a.m., prompted building evacuations and traffic detours that lasted until Monday evening. The garage, often used by jurors, is bounded by Walnut and Chestnut Streets and Prescott and Law Alleys.
John T. Hageman, a spokesman for the federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said components of the device were sent to an ATF lab, where technicians will reconstruct it to determine how it was designed to work as well as make an official determination that it was an explosive.
Officials at the scene said the device was capable of maiming or killing. Hageman said federal experts must confirm that.
Bohn said the device included protruding wires, a metal pipe, a container of unknown liquid, and a circuit board.
"I think it's apparent from looking . . . that this person's intention was to cause serious bodily harm," said Bohn.
Hageman said he did not believe an analysis of the device would be completed before next week. In the meantime, he said, ATF agents were working with West Chester police and Chester County detectives to conduct interviews in the neighborhood and obtain surveillance video from nearby stores.
"At least" 20 investigators worked at or near the scene yesterday, Bohn said.
Malcolm Johnstone, head of the West Chester Business Improvement District, said businesses seemed to take Monday's incident in stride.
