Suspicious Suitcase Left On FL Police Headquarters Loading Dock

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — A woman who left a suspicious package on a loading dock at the St. Petersburg Police Department headquarters Friday afternoon was arrested after a standoff with law enforcement at an apartment, investigators said.

An employee noticed a suspicious vehicle parked at the loading dock just before 2:30 p.m., police said in a news release. During a perimeter check an officer found a suitcase under a Forensics Unit van.

Security camera video footage showed a woman, later identified 26-year-old Rebekkah Westermeyer, driving up into the loading dock, and pulling a large brown suitcase from her vehicle, walking around a wall and under a security barrier into a restricted area with it.

The parking garage was blocked off and all businesses north and east of the building were evacuated out of caution, police said.

The Tampa Bomb Squad responded to the scene and the suitcase was later found to be empty.
Around 2:50 p.m., officers received a call about a person shot at an apartment at 4th Avenue N.

When they arrived, they found a woman matching Westermeyer’s description had barricaded herself inside, police said. A short time later, SWAT took her into custody without incident.

She was charged with abuse of 911 and manufacture, possession, or threatened use of a hoax weapon of mass destruction.