The Prince George’s County Courthouse in Upper Marlboro was evacuated and children from a day care center near the building were moved as a precaution to a nearby fire station after a suspicious package was detected in the area Wednesday by bomb-sniffing dogs, authorities said.
Officials determined Wednesday afternoon the package did not contain explosives and was not a threat.
Prince George’s County Fire Chief Marc Bashoor said authorities are investigating what exactly was in the package that caused three different bomb sniffing dogs to alert deputies to a possible problem. The chief said there were no chemicals or explosives.
Many roads in the area were closed for more than hour during the investigation, disrupting traffic.
At around 12:15 p.m., bomb-sniffing dogs alerted deputies to a suspicious package on a delivery truck dropping off materials to the courthouse in the 14700 block of Main Street in Upper Marlboro, said Mark Brady, a spokesman for the Prince George’s County fire department.
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The dogs routinely screen deliveries coming into the courthouse, and their discovery triggered a routine call to the county fire department’s bomb squad, Brady said.
After screening the packages, the fire department determined there was no threat and the package was not an explosive.
The fire department gave the all clear after about an hour and 15 minutes.
The courthouse, a day care center and local businesses were evacuated “out of an abundance of caution,” Brady said.
Children evacuated from the day care center can be picked up at the Marlboro Moose Lodge on Main Street in Upper Marlboro, the Prince George’s County Sheriff’s office said.
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