Empty Suitcase Causes Suspicious Package Scare in Times Square

TIMES SQUARE, NY — The crossroads of the world were briefly traffic- and pedestrian-free on Wednesday morning as the NYPD responded to a report of a suspicious package.

In the end, it turned out to be nothing more than an empty suitcase, according to the police.

The call came in at about 8:30 a.m. as workers were arriving to start their day in busy Midtown. Police shut down 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues to all traffic and told all people to stay in their buildings until the situation was cleared outside the McDonald's at 220 W. 42nd St.

As you'd expect for such a heavily populated area, Twitter lit up on Wednesday morning as people looked on at the empty Times Square block.

Tensions are obviously high in the city following the Saturday evening bomb attack in Chelsea. There were at least four suspicious package calls into the NYPD on Tuesday, including one in the East Village, another in Chelsea, one on Second Avenue in Midtown and one in SoHo late Tuesday night.

Photo Credit: Jean-Christophe Benoist via Wikimedia Commons