Suspicious device left in room a small light, LCPD says.
-
Members of the Alachua County Bomb Squad and Lake City Police Department look at the suspicious device found in the Quality Inn on Thursday morning. (JAMIE WACHTER/Lake City Reporter) -
Bomb squad members head toward the Quality Inn to check on the suspicious device found Thursday morning. (JAMIE WACHTER/Lake City Reporter) -
A robot drives down the driveway to the Quality Inn after entering to view the suspicious device left in a room at the hotel. (JAMIE WACHTER/Lake City Reporter)
A suspicious device left behind by a guest at the Quality Inn was not an explosive.
Staff at the Quality Inn on SW Commerce Drive in Lake City found a small, plastic device left in a room after a guest checked out around 10 a.m. Thursday.
After a quick check of the device, which had buttons and wires sticking out of it, hotel staff called 911. Greg Burnsed, a spokesperson with the Lake City Police Department, said a photo that hotel staff had taken of the device was sent to the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office Bomb Squad, which said they would respond.
A robot and multiple members of the bomb squad entered into the hotel, retrieving the device which was X-rayed and determined to not be an explosive around 2:30 p.m.
“Some kind of little light,” Burnsed said. “I don’t care what it was as long as it wasn’t an explosive.”
Burnsed said the Knights Inn and Ruby Tuesday were evacuated in addition to the Quality Inn.
The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, State Fire Marshal’s Office, Lake City Fire Department and Century Ambulance Service all responded to the scene as well.
There are no charges pending in the case.
"It was just something that was left behind in a room," Burnsed said.