Lakeland Bomb Threat Diffused | Part 1

Today at 10:29AM the LakelandPD posted on Twitter, announcing that “suspected explosive device on top floor of Main Street parking garage – Bomb Squad enroute”. The story POTENTIALLY started yesterday when surveillance video (possibly available, waiting to here from LPD) caught 3 young men jump out of a car and dropped an object/ item into a trash can and drove off. 2 hours later it supposedly exploded. Police haven’t confirmed weather these men are linked to the threat that was found this morning, but the video may lead to a tag id. LPD secured the garage, and shut down Main Street as what looked like 4 news helicopters flew overhead. News crews were able to park trucks on opposite side of the street. The Tampa Regional Bomb Squad was brought in, “neutralized” one device, and provided a controlled detonation to dispose of the second one; according to Jack Gillen, LPD spokesman. 

The real story is how bad |SLOW|  the news coverage was on this and how easy it was for me to convey what I was seeing and hearing to my Twitter followers ( I LOVE YOU GUYS). I would like to tip my hat to Fox News for the best & quickest coverage though. Fox had a news report up, photos and story much quicker then anyone else. Thanks Ken Suarez. Still I didn’t see a live stream of the event, anywhere. I had a couple people ask me if there was, so I wasn’t the only one looking for it. It would have been great to see what was going just a few blocks from my office. There were a total of 5 news trucks there, but no live stream.  I have linked the coverage I found and will summarize my real time experience in my next post.

Fox 13 Coverage

ABC Action News Coverage  

TBO.com 

BayNews9 

TampaBay 10  | Uhh what coverage & yes they had a truck on scene… but man they covered the Brush Fires!

The Ledger

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