The Streets at Southpoint mall in Durham was subject to a bomb squad response yesterday afternoon after a "suspicious" metal suitcase was discovered inside Nordstrom. Durham Police were on the scene for the item found at approximately 2:30 p.m on 6910 Fayetteville Road. The store was soon evacuated, with the mall following suit after the Durham County Sheriff's Office Bomb Squad was called in to examine the suitcase, as CBS 17 reported.
Despite the fears, the investigation by the Durham County Sheriff's Office Bomb Squad and the FBI concluded that no dangerous devices were present in the suitcase, as reported by ABC11. The mall is scheduled to resume normal operations on Sunday. The incident stoked anxieties, it came a day after another scare at the same location where what was initially thought to be an active shooter situation turned out to be fireworks being set off in the parking lot.
As the evacuation unfolded, employees and shoppers were ushered out of the building. Jaden Rigsby, an employee at Chipotle in the mall, voiced his concern to WRAL News, saying, "They just came in and told us to close the store, just leave everything as it was and get out and get as far away from the mall as possible. I don’t know, I’m a little shaken up." Echoes of distress reverberated amongst mall staff and patrons alike, given the back-to-back nature of the threats, albeit both being unfounded.
These recurring false alarms are affecting more than just the nerves of those present at the mall. A shopper and small business owner, Kiara Boyd, expressed to WRAL News her concern for the larger impact, stating, "It’s sad because I feel like retail stores are already probably struggling a little bit with online shopping and just the internet. It’s kind of sad that that could be impacting business." The sentiment signals an underlying fear for the viability of physical retail environments in an increasingly digital shopping landscape.
While shoppers and employees might be unsettled, Thaddeus Johnson from the Council on Criminal Justice underlined the rationale behind law enforcement's robust response, telling ABC11, "You want to lock down and cordon off that section. Right. You want to keep x ray and and bomb squads and K-9 units on standby with mutual aid. You never want to move the package. Right? You want to take a picture or mark the area for specialists." The diligence of the involved authorities aims to ensure the utmost safety, in a time where precaution is a priority given the unpredictable nature of public threats.
