Pittsburgh police respond to report of suspicious package at Jewish food bank

PITTSBURGH — For the second time in a week, Pittsburgh police responded to a report of a suspicious package at the Jewish Faith and Community Services food pantry in Greenfield.

The bomb scare on Hazelwood Avenue sent employees into the parking lot and bomb squad personnel into the building to check it out.

ALERT: Pittsburgh Bomb Squad responded to a report of a suspicious package on 800 block of HAZELWOOD Ave. Package was inspected and not hazardous. Scene is all clear.
— Pgh Public Safety (@PghPublicSafety) November 2, 2018

The entire block was closed to traffic and no one was allowed near the building until the bomb squad inspected the package. It was the second suspicious package mailed to the food pantry this week.

Channel 11 was also there on Wednesday after reports that a suspicious package was opened by employees at the food pantry, just a mile away from the Tree of Life synagogue, where 11 people were slain by a gunman on Saturday.

TRENDING NOW:

So what was inside the package?

“Just a bottle of water,” said COO Dana Gold.

The ordinary-looking bottle of water set off alarm bells inside the pantry because workers have received three of the bottles since May.

The bottle on Friday arrived in a box with a handwritten label.

“What we have had is a suspicious package sent to us from Louisiana. This is the third time we've gotten this kind of package,” Gold said. “First time was a bottle of water which we thought was strange. And the last two times it was a bottle of water, as well.”

Pittsburgh police think it’s strange, too. Channel 11 has learned investigators are contacting law enforcement in Louisiana to track down the sender of the three packages.

“I said, ‘Don't open it, call the police,’ and the police called the bomb squad,” Gold said. “They're sending officers down to the address to Louisiana.”