MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) — Mount Vernon police say a suspicious package prompted the evacuation of businesses in a strip mall Thursday evening.
Lt. Chris Cammock says the package left outside the front door of the Dollar Tree store had wires sticking out of it.
KING-TV says police determined it contained shrapnel, wires and a battery but no detonating device.
Cammock tells the Skagit Valley Herald it was a “very good hoax device.”
Mount Vernon police and fire officials responded, as did the State Patrol bomb unit.
Businesses began to reopen about 7 p.m. Thursday.
