UPDATED: Threats From Recent Suicide Victim Led To Bomb Search

September 3, 2014 11:45 a.m.

(Updated at 12:35 p.m.) Threats from a recent suicide victim led to the nearly two-hour long search of a vehicle on Tuesday night in a Bethesda parking lot.

MCFRS bomb squad commander Kevin Frazier said a concerned family member of a suicide victim came to the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad on Tuesday and reported that the suicide victim had made threats and suggested the use of explosives.

Police found the vehicle related to the threats in Parking Lot 43, a county-operated lot on Woodmont Avenue.

- Advertisement -

“Out of an abundance of caution, the Montgomery County Police as well as the bomb squad responded to parking Lot 34 and did a quick threat assessment,” Frazier said.

A K9 dog alerted officers and bomb squad technicians to the potential of dangerous material inside the vehicle — a silver Honda SUV.

Frazier said bomb squad technicians then decided to use two robotic devices, which removed a suspicious backpack from the vehicle. The device emptied the backpack but no explosives were found, Frazier said.

At that point, three bomb squad technicians donned protective gear and did a manual search of the vehicle. After searching the entire car and finding no explosives, the police cleared the area and dropped the perimeter around the parking lot.

Frazier said the vehicle was returned to the family of the suicide victim.

Sponsored
Face of the Week

Police closed Woodmont Avenue between Cordell and St Elmo Avenues at about 8:20 p.m on Tuesday. The road was reopened just after 11 p.m.

Frazier said the bomb squad used equipment funded from grants acquired by a collection of regional fire and rescue agencies known as MetroTech. The bomb squad personnel who investigated the vehicle are part of the MCFRS bomb squad, which is run out of the department’s fire marshall’s office.

Digital Partners

Enter our essay contest