Veterans
By Howard Altman / Military Times / May 30, 2019
PHOTO: A suspicious package found at the Bay Pines VA Healthcare System caused traffic to be shut down for about four hours. It is a level 1a, tertiary care facility. Originally opened in 1933, the medical center is located on 337 acres situated on the Gulf of Mexico approximately eight miles northwest of downtown Saint Petersburg, Fla.
The FBI is investigating a suspicious package found at a Department of Veterans Affairs facility in Florida that tied up traffic for four hours Wednesday afternoon.
No one was hurt at the Bay Pines VA Healthcare System campus near St. Petersburg, Florida, and all traffic resumed flowing shortly after 5 p.m., Selina Meiners, a VA spokeswoman, told Military Times.
The Tampa Police Department’s bomb squad, one of several units responding to the scene, was called in to deal with the package.
“The package in question was disassembled and no longer a threat,” said Meiners early Wednesday evening.
TPD spokesman Steve Hegarty said the package was then turned over to the FBI.
“We always respond to any suspicious devices, especially this being the VA,” said Tampa FBI field office spokeswoman Andrea Aprea.
Officials at the VA, TPD and FBI all declined to offer specifics about the package that was found near the east entrance of the sprawling campus. It is one of the few VA facilities in the nation that has a hospital, a claims office and a national cemetery.
It was located near the Veterans Benefits Administration’s regional office on the campus, said Meiners. That office is one of the busiest VA claims processing centers in the nation.
The discovery of the package did not force any evacuations or interfere with any operations on the campus. But authorities initially closed off traffic east and westbound in the facility.
Westbound traffic resumed first and by shortly after 5 p.m., eastbound traffic resumed as well.
The investigation is ongoing, FBI spokeswoman Aprea said Thursday morning.
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