Parts of San Francisco were evacuated on Thursday after a suspicious package was left in Union Square.
Police received a report of a suspicious backpack left in Union Square in San Francisco at around 11:50 a.m. on Thursday. Union Square was evacuated. Union Square was evacuated and a one-block radius around Union Square was also shut down to vehicles and pedestrians. Businesses were forced to close, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, a bomb squad came to the area to examine the package at 1 p.m. The cable car service was also shut down during this time. However after investigating, it was determine that the package was not a threat and the streets were later reopened.
"It's better to be safe than sorry," Officer Albie Esparza told the San Francisco Chronicle. "We take these incidents really seriously."
When the area was evacuated, runners were picking up supplies for Sunday's Nike Women's Marathon. The distribution tent was in the square. Some had memories of the Boston Marathon bombings during the evacuation.
"I hadn't worried about it until they mentioned this bomb threat," said Eileen Gapasin, 29, of Cupertino. "It's going to be crazy to see what they do for the marathon. ... It's scary to think of the possibility, especially because it's supposed to be a positive experience."
The upcoming marathon is one of the reasons officers made the effort to evacuate the area. "Because of the Nike event, we wanted to make sure we were extra careful," he said.
Union Square is a big tourist hot spot and it is full of high-end retail stores.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
