Bomb squad called to Target store in Medina on a false alarm

March 27, 2017 at 3:40AM
Emergency crews stood near the parking entrance to Target in Medina. Target and surrounding stores in Medina were evacuated because of a bomb threat on Sunday evening, March 26.
Emergency crews stood near the parking entrance to Target in Medina. Target and surrounding stores in Medina were evacuated because of a bomb threat on Sunday evening, March 26. (Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

A Target store in Medina was evacuated Sunday evening after a call came in from an employee who reported seeing a suspicious device inside the store, according to the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office.

The Medina Police Department and the Hamel Fire Department were in charge, and those in a nearby media staging area were told that there could be a loud noise — a controlled detonation — if the possible bomb was located.

Just before 9 p.m., Medina Police Chief Ed Belland said, bomb experts discovered a 3-by-5-inch package with a blinking red light in a staff-only area of the store and determined that it was not an explosive device.

Law enforcement officers then swept the store with bomb-sniffing dogs before allowing Target to reopen, Belland said. The search was ordered, he said, "because we just want to take every precaution."

Erin Adler

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