Thomas Breen photo
City spokesperson Lenny Speiller talks with police as they re-open Elm and Orange streets soon after 12 p.m.
City police shut down two busy downtown blocks and evacuated City Hall and 200 Orange St. as they investigated — and rendered safe — three suspicious, and ultimately empty, canisters that had been placed near those municipal government buildings early Friday morning by a man who is now in police custody.
New Haven Police Department (NHPD) Capt. Nicholas Marcucio and Mayor Justin Elicker provided that update Friday at around 12:30 p.m. during a press briefing at the northeast corner of Orange and Elm streets.
They said that a city employee called the police at around 7:15 a.m. to report a suspicious person with a backpack who had dropped three long, cylindrical metal cannisters in the area. He placed one in a vacant lot next to 200 Orange St., one in the bushes outside of that same municipal office building, and one a bit further down the block near the federal building and the Turnbridge substance use disorder treatment center.
Police closed off adjacent portions of Elm Street and Orange Street for roughly four hours as the bomb squad was called in to locate and investigate the devices. The mayor said that City Hall and 200 Orange St. were also evacuated; Marcucio said occupants of other nearby buildings were advised to evacuate or shelter in place.
Elicker said the bomb squad “did a procedure to render [one of those devices] safe.” That involved conducting an X‑ray of the device, removing it to a safe area, and then partially opening it to ensure that it did not contain explosives or anything else dangerous.
Ultimately, police found that all three devices were empty.
“I’m glad that there was nothing that came out of this,” Elicker said. But, “we always want to make absolutely sure that our community is safe.”
Marcucio said that police were able to apprehend a suspect within around two and a half hours of the initial suspicious behavior call coming in.
He said police recognized the man from surveillance footage and witness interviews as “familiar in a certain area of the city.” Police located him “not too far away from the downtown area,” took him into custody, and plan on charging him “accordingly.”
City staffers waiting for the all clear to return to City Hall and 200 Orange.
Capt. Marcucio and Mayor Elicker address the press.