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Workers return to World Financial Center after fake grenade scare (UPDATED) – Metro US

Workers return to World Financial Center after fake grenade scare (UPDATED)

UPDATE: Police are allowing workers to return to their offices inside the World Financial Center. They had been evacuated while cops were investigating a suspicious package.

The grenade that police initially found turned out to be a novelty item that someone in the mail room had unwrapped from a package during a screening process, according to the NYPD. It was mounted on a plaque with a sign that said “Complaint Dept. Pull Pin.”

Judi, who works at the World Financial Center and did not want to give her last name, said that only part of the building — Building 2 — was evacuated.

She said she didn’t know anything was wrong until she saw a stream of people leaving that building.

“We thought it was a fire drill,” she said.

“And an intercom announcement said “don’t do anything,” she remembered, but she could hardly hear. “The system was so bad and the guy had such an accent, we couldn’t understand what he said. “

Her building was not evacuated, but she said a guard told her, “If youre uncomfortable, leave.”

Cops had evacuated the building in the last hour. Emergency Services Unit officers and the bomb squad were on the scene, according to the NYPD.

The novelty item that caused the scare may have looked like the image below, a common gag gift.

(Photo via Wikimedia Commons)