A bomb scare emptied out Philadelphia City Hall just before noon Thursday, during City Council’s opening fall session.
Law enforcement officials did not ultimately find any explosives, and the building reopened in the afternoon. No injuries were reported.
Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore said a Council employee spotted an unattended backpack just after 11 a.m. in the legislature’s fourth-floor Caucus Room, located directly across the hall from where the meeting was ongoing.
He was not able to identify the bag’s owner and alerted sheriff’s deputies, who provide security within City Hall. Two separate dogs trained to detect explosives flagged the bag, Vanore said.
“Once a dog hits on it, that heightens our alert,” Vanore added.
Vanore said officers used X-ray technology before looking inside the bag and found nothing harmful. He suggested that powder from a recently removed firearm or firework may have triggered the response from the K-9s.
The owner of the bag was taken into questioning but is not expected to face charges, according to Vanore. Officials have not publicly identified him.
Council President Kenyatta Johnson, at around 11:30 a.m., announced that the session would be put on recess, and he directed attendees to use the stairs to evacuate the building.
The chambers were crowded at the time, and the meeting was in its public comment phase. Dozens had registered to speak about the planned closure of the Academy of Natural Sciences and the city’s waste deal with a Chester incinerator, among other topics.
Once outside, Council employees, workers from other municipal government offices, court staff and jurors were directed to cross the street. The loop around City Hall was closed to traffic.
The Philadelphia Police Department’s Counter Terrorism Operations Unit and bomb squad responded to the scene.
Once the bag was cleared, authorities ran bomb-sniffing dogs through the building before providing the “all clear” at around 12:45 p.m. Council resumed its session just before 1:30 p.m.
“I just thank God it really wasn’t a bomb,” Johnson told reporters after the meeting.
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