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Beverly Center evacuated due to suspicious package in parking garage (Updated)
A fire truck speeds by headed toward Beverly Boulevard during a Beverly Center evacuation Sunday, March 24 following a suspicious package being found in the parking garage.
(
Robert Hernandez
)
4:55 p.m. Update: LAPD has re-opened the Beverly Center and the parking garage.
4:05 p.m. Update: Los Angeles police have used a robot to detonate the package, reportedly a briefcase that was left in a car by someone other than the driver.
ORIGINAL STORY: The Beverly Center was evacuated Sunday after a suspicious package was found inside a vehicle in a parking garage, the LAPD tells NewsBreaker.
Thousands were estimated to have been evacuated, according to Newsbreaker. People were running from the mall, according to journalism professor Robert Hernandez.
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The bomb squad was called to the scene, the LAPD tells City News Service, after a motorist told police that someone had placed a suspicious package in the back seat of his vehicle, which was not there when he first parked.
The three-level mall sits atop a seven-story parking garage, and employees said both were evacuated before 1:30 p.m.
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