PERRY, MO. -- A suspicious looking milk jug painted red stood on the corner of Route J and 154 in Perry, Mo. for nearly 6 hours Tuesday.
Police said the suspicious item found on Main Street turned out to be harmless after hours into an investigation of a possible explosive device.
Multiple law enforcement agencies arrived on scene to investigate.
Perry Police Chief Brian Hooley says his department received a call from a resident around 8 a.m.
"A concerned citizen saw an object that was suspected to be an explosive device," Chief Hooley said.
State police and Ralls County deputies immediately blocked traffic in all directions around the site.
"We asked quite a few people in the area as a precautionary measure to evacuate the area in an orderly fashion. Everyone was very accommodating. They understood that we had a lot of business riding on this and a lot of safety riding on this," Hooley said.
Hours later, teams with the Missouri State Highway Patrol bomb squad and Hannibal Fire Department arrived on scene to investigate the suspicious package. A robot evaluated the scene first, following a HAZMAT crew's inspection of the package. A few samples of the liquid contents determined the liquid in the milk jug was about 90 percent water and 10 percent herbicide.
According to Chief Hooley, "at this time, the device has been deemed that it is not explosive and the investigation remains pending."
Anyone with information on this package is asked to call the Perry Police Department's non-emergency number at (573) 565-2211.
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forKHQA