Police secured the area while they checked out the suspicious package.
Police, emergency response units and the bomb squad were on the scene at Shoppers Drug Mart on Sherbrook St and Notre Dame Ave Thursday evening after a suspicious package was found in the parking lot.
A patron of the store reported the package to store security who in turn notified the police.
Area where the suspicious package was found.
Store employees and customers were told to leave the store and police tape closed off the streets around the store.
According to the 680 CJOB website, police were notified shortly after 8 p.m.
I spoke with some area residents who were on the scene before 10 p.m. They saw emergency vehicles pull up and decided to check out the action. The bomb squad unit was in the parking lot. As well, fire trucks, paramedics and ambulances attended.
The witnesses told me the bomb squad vehicle opened the side door and put out a ramp shortly before I arrived on the scene around 11 p.m. They then put the ramp back up and closed the door.
Police told the crowd that had gathered across Notre Dame Avenue to move east on the street out of line of the front of the store “just to be safe” when the remote controlled robot was finally rolled out of the truck.
Fire department personnel were seen bringing in sandbags. The police robot was used to check out the package. At about 12:30 a.m. a police officer told onlookers to stay back until the robot was put back into the vehicle as it was armed.
The officer as well as the Platoon Chief from the fire department told me the package was not a bomb but was made to look like a bomb.
Once the robot was put back into the bomb squad truck, the police tape was removed and employees were allowed to go back into the store. The incident ended around 12:45 a.m. Police are still investigating.
The remote controlled robot back in side the bomb squad truck.
Photos by Doug Kretchmer
