by Jeremy Hunt
Daily Lobo
The Albuquerque Police Department's bomb squad investigated two suspicious packages under a vehicle Monday in the E parking lot near Redondo Village Apartments.
UNM Police closed Girard Boulevard between Central Avenue and Campus Boulevard for about two hours.
The bomb squad determined the packages to not be hazardous devices, said Lt. Pat Davis, UNMPD spokesman.
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"They cleared it and turned the scene back over to us," he said.
UNM Police are continuing the investigation, Davis said.
Half the parking lot was blocked off by police tape, and residents could not get to their cars.
The incident began at about 1:40 p.m., when two Physical Plant employees
reported the two suspicious packages - boxes about six by six inches - to campus police, Davis said.
"We've been training other staff on campus to help us look for security things and be aware of it," he said.
An officer responded and identified the boxes as suspicious packages, Davis said.
"We notified the bomb squad immediately, and they were on the scene with us at 2:40 p.m.," he said.
While the bomb squad investigated, police kept students from entering the perimeter of the area.
Student Reid Howard said she was concerned, but the situation didn't seem too dangerous.
"At first I was like, 'Oh, that's kind of creepy,'" she said. "But they were letting the band play over there (on Johnson Field), and they weren't asking anyone to leave, and (they were) letting people drive around, so I figured that they didn't think anything was going to explode."
