KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaican soldiers and police took positions around the U.S. Embassy in the island's capital on Wednesday after a man hurled a "suspicious package" over the building's wall.
The incident came just over a week before President Barack Obama is due to visit Jamaica on April 9 ahead of the Summit of the Americas in Panama.
Embassy public affairs counselor Joshua Polacheck said a person threw the "suspicious package" over the wall on Wednesday morning, leading officials to close the facility to visitors for a few hours. Neither he nor police described the package. The embassy was reopened to visitors around noon.
Jamaican authorities detained a suspect and U.S. officials "are working closely with Jamaican security personnel," Polacheck said.
Citing an ongoing investigation, Jamaica police force spokeswoman Constable Yolonda Henry declined to provide any specifics about the person in custody.
A few hundred onlookers gathered across the street from the Kingston embassy as heavily armed security forces positioned themselves around the complex.
While in Jamaica, Obama is scheduled to meet heads of the Caribbean Community political grouping for discussions on security, trade and other topics. The last sitting U.S. president to visit the Caribbean island was Ronald Reagan in 1982.
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