A suitcase left next to a garbage can and a ticking noise prompted a shopper to stop a city employee and report a possible bomb at 2:12 p.m. Monday at Golden Gate Plaza.
"They thought they heard it ticking and saw a city employee and told them," Fire Chief Bruce Elliott said. "Police cordoned off the area and called the bomb unit in."
The bomb squad arrived at 3:23 p.m. An X-ray showed the suitcase, left near the Ohio License Bureau office, was empty.
Elliott said there was a beeping noise coming from a nearby vacant storefront that was probably from a smoke detector.
"It was more of a beeping noise than ticking," he said. "A few businesses were closed for a couple hours, but the good news is that everyone was safe and we were all out of there by 4:30 p.m."
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