UPDATE: 11:30 a.m.
GLASSBORO, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — Authorities have declared an all-clear in Glassboro after a "suspicious package" on front lawn of a home tuend out to contain harmless sheet metal and a backpack.
A little after 6 a.m. on Wednesday, someone woke up in their home on Baldwin Road near McClellan Avenue and discovered a couple of suspicious things on the front lawn.
Gloucester County brought in a SWAT team. Students at nearby Dorothy L Bullock Elementary school were evacuated and moved to Glassboro High School. A portion of Baldwin Road was closed between Fishpond Road and New Street. And police urged everyone who lives within 1,000 feet of the intersection to evacuate, sending residents to East New Street Park for a briefing.
There were estimates that there could have been as many as 1,000 people in the heavily populated single-family home area. Rowan University is also a couple of blocks away. However, most of the people in the neighborhood just stayed in their homes.
The suspicious package turned out to be a roll of sheet metal and a backpack, which police now have in their possession. They think there might be some other minor violation involved, but the bottom line: no dangerous package. And everything is slowly getting back to normal.
Police say they were just following protocol, ordering the evacuation out of "an abundance of caution."
KYW Newsradio's Dan Wing contributed to this report.
