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Westfield Sunrise Mall Evacuated for Suspicious Package

By on January 7, 2013

Westfield Sunrise Mall in Massapequa was evacuated for a bomb scare after a suspicious package was found on Monday evening, Nassau County police said.

A mall employee saw a 31-year-old woman acting incoherently, carrying two suitcases and a shopping bag leave the packages unattended near Sunrise Jewelers and walked away shortly before 6 p.m.

The mall was evacuated as a precaution after police officers took the unidentified incoherent woman into custody in another part of the mall and called in the Arson/Bomb Squad out of concern for the contents of the abandoned packages.

“Better safe than sorry,” said a Walmart employee who declined to give his name after watching the bomb squad robot in action on the east side of the mall on Sunrise Highway.

Police said the packages were determined not to be a threat around 8 p.m., when the mall was reopened.

Mall security referred calls to management, which was unavailable for comment Monday evening.

The woman was taken to a local hospital for evaluation.

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Timothy Bolger Timothy Bolger (449 Posts)

Timothy Bolger is the News/Web Editor for the Long Island Press who’s been working to uncover unreported stories for the paper since shortly after it launched in 2003. When he’s not editing, getting hassled by The Man or fielding cold calls to the newsroom, he covers crime, general interest and political news daily online with longer, sometimes investigative features in the monthly print edition. He won’t be happy until everyone is as pissed off as he is about how Lawn Guyland is screwed up.