Police destroy suspicious package in Maumee

5/3/2010

A suspicious package wrapped in a yellow plastic sign and left beside a gas pump at a Speedway gas station on Reynolds Road in Maumee was destroyed by a water cannon yesterday without incident.

Maumee police said a customer discovered the package shortly before 4 p.m. at the Speedway gas station in the 1500 block of Reynolds Road.

The fire department ordered the station and portions of Reynolds Road and Dussell Drive closed for nearly an hour, creating a nightmare of a traffic jam, Sgt. David Tullis said.

The package was a laptop computer wrapped inside a plastic sign and secured with plastic ties and a red handle.

It was first was reviewed by X-ray and then destroyed by members of the regional bomb squad, Sergeant Tullis said.

The computer was a full-size laptop, but the make could not be determined from the pieces, he said.

Video from surveillance cameras at the station should help identify the person responsible for leaving the device there, he said.