Suspicious package threat shuts down part of Winter Park

A suspicious package quickly escalated into the bomb squad being called in and parts of Winter Park shut down while police investigate whether a bomb was planted just east of downtown.

That section of downtown Winter Park was put on lockdown for two hours on Wednesday afternoon as the Winter Park Police Department and the Orange County bomb squad investigated a suspicious package outside the Rollins College Rosen Family Center on the 400th block of East Lyman Avenue.

That road along with blocks of Fairbanks and New England Avenues were closed off to residents and cars while police arrived at the scene at around 3 p.m.

After two tense hours of investigation and roping off the area, the Orange County bomb squad, with the use of a robot unit, determined that the package was harmless.

The site was declared safe shortly after 5 p.m. and the package was taken for further investigation.

“It wasn’t an explosive device, but we’re still taking it,” said Lt. Pam Marcum of the Winter Park Police Department.

“It wasn’t a threat to public safety.”