NEWARK, New Jersey – Authorities evacuated a midtown-Atlanta office building for a several hours Monday and closed roads to traffic for several blocks after a suspicious package — which turned out to be a prop used by an advertising agency — was found inside the building.
The package, found at 10 a.m., was not a live explosive, but rather a prop consisting of eight cylinders wrapped in red with the word "dynamite" printed in black on the side of each, police Sgt. Kevin Iosty told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The sticks were wrapped in tape and attached to a timer.
Iosty did not identify the advertising agency or say how the prop ended up in the vacant office on the 22nd floor. The building next door was also evacuated.
Workers were allowed to return to the buildings at around 1 p.m.
The package was found in the same building where a minor fire broke out last week.
Fire Chief Dennis Rubin told WSB-TV that the fire also was on the 22nd floor, but he said investigators determined it was an electrical fire started by bare wires on top of a speaker.
The building, The Proscenium was built in 2001 and has 24 stories and 528,000 square feet of office space.
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