(Updated) 'Suspicious' Package Contained Musical Instrument

This story was updated last at 11:47 a.m. Friday

Safety officials who investigated a suspicious package located outside the Owen Brown Interfaith Center Friday morning have deteremined the package is not of danger: It contained an accordion.

"Threat averted," wrote Howard County Police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn in a statement at 11:03 a.m. Friday.

The Interfaith Center, near the 7200 block of Cradlerock Way, is also the location of an active day care center.

Thirty-seven kids aged 6 weeks to 6 years were evacuated from the daycare center inside the building at 9:30 a.m. after the pakcage was declared suspicious, according to Bernadette Mooney, a teacher at the daycare center.

Police originally investigated  a report of an abandoned suitcase outside the Interfaith Center, according to police. A perimeter was established and the State Fire Marshall bomb squad was notified, police said.

However, after a bomb squad officer returned from the scene with the old, brown leather suitcase, it was determined there was an accordion inside.

Battalion Chief Shawn Utz of the Howard County fire department said they are not sure who is the owner of the accordion.

"If someone lost an accordian or had an accordian stolen, they should notify police," said police spokesperson Sherry Llewellyn.

Mooney said the kids handled the evacuation well. She said they took them to the nearby Giant and watched "Alvin and the Chipmunks" in the break room.

"We just made a game of it," said Mooney as she walked back to the center with the kids in tow. "We told them we were going on a field trip."

Llewellyn said the package was first reported at 9:15 a.m. as an unattended suticase outside the interfaith system. Howard County police and fire, as well as the state Fire Marshall bomb squad responded to the scene.

The bomb squad used a remote controlled robot to investigate the bomb, then sent in an officer to grab it once it was determined it wasn't dangerous. The scene was cleared by 11 a.m. and the kids returned to daycare.

Sign up for the Columbia Patch newsletter here and follow us on Facebook and Twitter for instant news updates and community conversations