So there was a bomb alert on campus yesterday
It was a box of flyers advertising cookies
A cardboard box with the word “bomb” written along the side of it was found Tuesday afternoon in the grass next to the UM Shuttle Bus Facility building on Paint Branch Drive.
Prince George’s County Police and Fire Department officials arrived on the scene shortly before 2 p.m., prepared to defuse a bomb.
Officials shut down the roadway between Regents Drive and Lot 4 to vehicles and pedestrians, and advised people inside the UM Shuttle Bus to evacuate.
UMPD took to Twitter to tell the public to steer clear of the area while the investigation was underway, and told drivers parked in Lot 9C to stay put.
Shortly after 3:30 p.m., officials deemed the cookie-flyer-filled box non-hazardous and issued an all clear via UMD Alert.
Courtesy of University of Maryland Police
University of Maryland junior Chelsea Jones told The Tab, “When I saw the email about the bomb threat, I didn’t take it seriously.”
“Alerts happen all the time for simple things that never turn out to be anything,” she explained. “Now finding out that it was a box of cookie flyers, I mean, come on. That’s UMD for you.”
Junior Zack Marcus had a similar reaction to the Alert, but applauded the police and fire departments for taking action.
“It’s good to see that there was a quick response from the police in its investigation and in sending out emails to let us all know what was happening, even if it ended up being nothing” he said.
Officials are continuing to investigate the incident, but for now, stay alert and be on the lookout for any rogue cookie salesmen.