Abbandoned Typewriter At Wal-Mart Creates Bomb Scare

[matcom]

<snip>

Outdated? Maybe. But an electronic typewriter turned out to be a traffic-stopper outside a Wal-Mart store in Midvale on Wednesday.

Concealed in a black case, the abandoned typewriter led to the rush-hour closure of Union Park Avenue and the evacuation of dozens of Wal-Mart shoppers when a passerby deemed the package suspicious and called police.

Authorities emptied the street from Fort Union Boulevard to South Union Avenue and deployed a robot to inspect the mysterious package, which looked much like a large briefcase.

The robot blasted the case open, launching the relic upside down onto the sidewalk.

"What is it?" remarked a bomb squad member, zooming in on the device. "Is it a projector?"

Midvale Fire Chief Stephen Higgs chuckled. He still remembered using the machines.

"No, it's an old typewriter," he said.

Union Park Avenue opened after an hour's closure about 6 p.m. Although investigators plan to examine Wal-Mart's video surveillance to see who left the device, they believe it was left unintentionally.

After its experience with the bomb squad, however, Higgs said the typewriter is "pretty much history."

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_4991134

[Hugin]

1. It's some sort of a metaphor for life...

Next up... Mass panic in library as people mistake books for unattended luggage.

[Little Wing]

2. Yup N/T

[Oeditpus Rex]

3. We've become the United States of Frank Burns

"Frank, you're paranoid."

"I am not!"

"When did you see this?"

"This morning, when I was checking my toothpaste for explosives."