MOA Cleared, Man Detained After Report Of Suspicious Package
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) -- Bloomington police say a man making vague statements about "blowing up America" prompted a brief lockdown Friday in a portion of the Mall of America.
Police Cmdr. Dave Olmstead says a woman reported the man's comments. Olmstead says the man had a backpack, but the Bloomington bomb squad found no explosives in it.
Olmstead says the man was issued a citation for disorderly conduct and put on a 72-hour hold for a mental evaluation.
The Bloomington Police Department instituted the lockdown, and closed off the mall's south hallways on all three levels. All the stores in those hallways brought down their security gates and herded customers into their back rooms.
The lockdown lasted about an hour and is now over.
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