(Wednesday Update) A MCFRS spokesperson said police called in the bomb squad after being tipped off to threats from a recent suicide victim. Story here.
(Updated at 11:25 p.m.) A bomb scare on Tuesday led to police shutting down a main Bethesda thoroughfare and a Montgomery County Fire and Rescue bomb squad using robotic devices to search a suspicious vehicle in a parking lot.
At about 7:30 p.m., police shut down parking Lot 43, a public county lot located along Woodmont Avenue. A spokesperson said police got a call for a suspicious explosive device.
After searching the parking lot with the help of a K9 dog, police then shut down Woodmont Avenue between Cordell and St Elmo Avenues at about 8:20 p.m.
A fully equipped bomb squad vehicle arrived shortly after that and put two robotic devices to use searching an SUV in the parking lot. Police cleared the back patio of the Saphire Cafe and didn’t allow people to return to their vehicles once the bomb squad began its search.
At about 10:20 p.m., a group of bomb squad personnel donned protective gear and combed through each section of the vehicle. About 20 minutes later, the bomb squad members took off their gear and the scene was slowly cleared with no explosive devices found.
Police reopened Woodmont Avenue at about 11:05 p.m., allowed patrons at Saphire Cafe back on to the patio and let people return to their vehicles in the parking lot. Members of the bomb squad stayed on scene near the suspicious vehicle.