Suspicious object causes TSTC to close 4 buildings

HARLINGEN — Police locked down four Texas State Technical College buildings Friday as they investigated a suspicious object found inside a campus trash container.

A campus groundskeeper discovered a “suspicious item” inside the large outdoor trash container around 2 p.m. Friday outside the school’s Rep. Irma Rangel Science and Technology Building, TSTC Police Chief Aurelio Torres said. Campus police activated the school’s emergency notification system and locked down four nearby campus buildings, Torres said.

Harlingen police and a Brownsville police bomb squad rushed to the scene, Torres said, and “deactivated” the device.

Torres would not describe the object and would not give any indication whether it was, in fact, any type of explosive device. The case, he said, has been turned over to the federal Bureau of  Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for investigation.

ATF agents on the campus Friday said it was standard procedure to run an investigation whenever a bomb squad is called to a scene.

The decision to close the four campus buildings, essentially locking students inside, was with concern for students’ safety, TSTC’s Chief of Staff Adam Hutchinson insisted.

The lockdown, which lasted about a half-hour, was meant to keep students safe in the event
of an actual explosive device.

By 4 p.m. Friday, the grassy area where the item was found was still roped off by police as ATF agents surveyed the scene.