Abandoned Bag Leads to Bomb Scare at Gerald's

A bomb scare closed down three blocks of St. Bernard Highway in Da Parish after a man left a suspicious backpack behind the counter of Gerald's Donuts in Arabi yesterday, reports Benjamin Alexander-Bloch. The owner of the donut shop/parish councilman Richie Lewis tells the Times-Pic that a man dropped the bag around 12:30 p.m. after having a "brief argument with a waitress."

Apparently the man had been causing a problem at the donut/burger joint in the past week, "wanting a free drink, or always something," Lewis says. Yesterday, when the man walked out without paying his check and left the bag, Lewis got spooked and called the St. Bernard Sheriff's Office. Both sides of St. Bernard Highway? from Mehle to Friscoville Avenues? were then closed off until 5 p.m., while bomb robots were sent in, and the bag was x-rayed to no avail and then taken to a vacant lot to be "safety detonated" as a precautionary measure. No word on what was actually inside the bag, so we'll just leave that MacGuffin for another day. No charges have been filed at this time.

· Bomb Scare at Arabi Donut Shop Disrupts Traffic, Bomb Robot Used [NOLA.com]
· All Crime Wires [-ENOLA-]