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Official Says Suspicious Package Harmless

Posted on: Thursday, 3 July 2003, 06:00 CDT

A car rental agency near La Guardia Airport was evacuated Thursday after employees discovered a loaded gun in a trunk and a suspicious device that turned out to be harmless, police said.

The device was a clock taped to two road flares with black tape, according to police spokesman Michael O'Looney. He said a bomb squad determined the clock could not have ignited the flares, and he described it as a hoax.

Police were looking for the person who rented the car on May 23.

The car had not been returned by the renter and instead was retrieved by the agency because it was overdue by several days, according to David Gilman, a spokesman for National Car Rental. He said records regarding the car and the person who last rented it had been turned over to police.

Rental agency workers summoned police to the scene at about 10:45 a.m. after discovering the gun and device. The car was parked on the second deck of a garage, and police blocked off the area.

The incident followed reports of suspicious packages Wednesday that led police to shut down three major subway lines in New York. The Brooklyn Bridge was also shut down temporarily after a caller told police he had been offered money to drive a car onto the span. None of the reports Wednesday proved a danger to the public.

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