7th Street Metro Station Closed Due To Suspicious Package [UPDATE]

Metro's 7th St./Metro Center station downtown is currently evacuated after a suspicious item was found Thursday afternoon.Around 1:35 p.m., a Metro employee discovered the item on the mezzanine level of the station, Ramon Montenegro, public information officer for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Transit Services Bureau, told LAist. The item was deemed suspicious enough to call in the sheriff's department's arson/explosive detail, according to Montenegro.

According to LAist's Tim Loc at the scene, a 3-block area around the station has been closed due to the police activity. A sheriff's deputy at the scene said the device was a "big one."

While Purple and Red line trains are currently bypassing the station, Blue and Expo line trains are currently being stopped at the Pico station.

On- and off-ramps to the 110 freeway from 6th and 7th streets were temporarily closed, according to the CHP, but are now reopen:

We will update this story as more information becomes available.

Update [5:15]: Metro announced that the 7th Street/Metro Center station has reopened and normal service has resumed:

According to City News Service the sheriff's department's Arson-Explosives Unit detonated the suspicious item around 5 p.m., but did not report what it may have been.