Car was ground zero in bomb scare:shock:

I was working 11-7 yesterday; was just a normal day. Then about 5:30, one of the cashiers comes running up to me as I was helping a customer.
“Kelly!!! Is your last name Pierce?”
“Yeah” (scratching head, why does that matter?)
“You gotta come with me RIGHT NOW!!!! The police are looking for you! Who else can cover aquatics?”
“Angie went on break; I’m the only one here.” (now I’m getting a panicky feeling; why are the police looking for me? Is my family okay; did the house catch on fire? Was my husband [visiting his brother 30 miles away] in a car accident?)
“Well you need to come RIGHT AWAY!!! Here, Amber, you come over here and take customers!” (Amber walks over all ears; customers are getting a worried look)
So, I follow her outside to the sidewalk, where a policeman points out towards the back of the parking lot and asks me, “Is that your car?”
“Yes, it is.” It’s behind a truck from the doorway, but I always park in the same place. At least it isn’t my family, that’s soothing. If my car was a parking lot fatality, I’ll deal with THAT.
The officer starts to walk me towards the car. Oddly, there are 2 very large red suitcases leaning against the rear quarter panel. “Are those cases yours?”
“No.”
“Have you ever seen them before?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“yes”
“Would anybody leave them there for you?”
“No, not that I know of.”
“What’s your home address, and numbers we can reach you at?”
give them the address etc.
“Have any children?”
“One daughter.”
“How old?”
“Nine.”
“Where is she?”
“At home, with my mother.”
“Do you have any enemies, or anyone who might wish you harm?”
At this point, I’m just puzzled. “No, no one I can think of.” What’s all this hullaballoo about a pair of cases? Probably someone just took them out of their vehicle to put something else in, and forgot to replace them before they drove off.
“Has anyone threatened you, or does anyone have any reason to have become upset with you recently?”
“No, why?”
“Because we’re treating those as bombs”
Wow. 😯 “I really can’t think of anyone. I mean, my daughter’s father just got served with past due child support payments, but that’s way too sophisticated for him”
Anyhow, this is getting way too long, but I have to give his known info, they keep asking who would want to harm me or blow up my car 😯 etc. I’m starting to get a bit frazzled now.
They told me i could go back to work but stay available, closed the parking lot and the Chick-Fil-A on the other side of it, and told us to shut down the store. We were to stay off the sidewalk, and away from the glass fronting. Periodically they would come back to ask me if I could thing of anything while the bomb dogs and crews were on the way. They also sent a crew to makle sure my daughter and mother were safe at home.
Needless to say, I wasn’t allowed to go home at my scheduled quitting time. They started letting employees arrange for rides home (no one was allowed out to the parking lot and their vehicles), but everyone had to leave out the back of the building. Even customers coming to pick up their groom dogs had to use the back.
They wouldn’t let me leave with my co-workers, although one offered me a ride home. I had to stay with the police.
They had a bomb robot go out to my poor car several times, and a guy suited up like he was going to space and carrying a sheild.
Finally they said the X-rays that the robot took indicated the boxes were empty. The robot prodded them, then the suited guy went back out, prodded them again, knocked them over and opened them. They were indeed empty. Then he looked all over the underside of my car with a light, mirror, and camera. Finally they gave the all clear, and allowed me to get my car and leave.
Not a restful evening!
http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/2008/10/12/suspicious_packages_found_outside_lake_mary_petsmart.html