Memorial Park scare caused by camera bag
Picture this: Somebody goes to Memorial Park with their camera. The sun is out, and temperatures are in the 60s, making for another picture-perfect day in Colorado Springs.
Mesmerized by the scenic beauty, from Prospect Lake to snow-capped Pikes Peak off in the distance, the photographer sets their camera bag down and innocently walks away.
A security guard, surely aware of the deadly bombings Monday in Boston, notices the bag and reports the suspicious package to police, who evacuate part of the park and call out the bomb squad.
That’s what happened Friday afternoon when the unattended camera bag set off a flurry of police activity at the park east of downtown.
“I’m sure somebody just left it there,” Colorado Springs police Lt. Sal Fiorillo said after a bomb technician X-rayed the bag and determined there wasn’t a bomb but a camera lens inside.
“They were probably taking pictures, and they just left it there,” he said.
Fiorillo said the security guard did the right thing by alerting police to the suspicious bag.
“We encourage people to give us a call when they find a suspicious package that’s just left there,” he said. “Let us determine whether it’s a safe device or if we have to do something different.”
Fiorillo said police didn’t react any differently because of the bombings in Boston.
“It has nothing to do with the events out in Massachusetts,” he said. “We would’ve handled this the same way prior to Monday.”
The bag was left near the Veterans Memorial, not far from the Memorial Park Recreation Center.
“Police came into the rec center to make our staff aware that there had been a suspicious package found in the park,” said Carrie Bair-Norwood, vice president of brand and impact development for the YMCA of the Pikes Peak Region, which operates the recreation center for the city.
“The police had told our staff that they secured the park entrances and then worked with YMCA staff to secure the recreation center, but we’re open for business now,” she said.
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A suspicious package shut down the southeast corner of Memorial Park on Friday afternoon. Members of the CSPD block on of the entrances on Friday, April 19, 2013. Photo by JERILEE BENNETT, THE GAZETTE