Local authorities converged at a shopping center in Port Isabel, where the Brownsville Police Department Bomb Squad investigated a suspicious package with the letters “TNT” written on it. (Staff photo by Craig Alaniz)
PRESS Staff Report
Port Isabel was on edge Wednesday afternoon when first responders from here and neighboring communities converged on one of the city’s more popular shopping centers.
Employees and patrons for the various stores and eateries in the shopping center located just off of Texas Highways 510 and 100, near the edge of town, were briskly evacuated by authorities and the area was cordoned off to the general public. The cause, according to Port Isabel Chief of Police Wally Gonzalez was a suspicious package reported to police by an employee of the Dollar Tree Store located within the shopping center.
Gonzalez said an employee discovered the box in a trashcan during the employee’s routine check Wednesday afternoon.
Upon their arrival police ordered all customers and employees to evacuate the area and to move their vehicles out of the vicinity.
The Brownsville Police Department’s bomb squad was called to retrieve the suspicious box. Bomb squad members sent a robot to investigate the package. They later determined the box was empty. Contrary to reports, there is no indication that the box was detonated. The letters “TNT” were written on the box.
Investigators will now review security tapes to search for the person who placed the box at the shopping center.