What was believed to be a suspicious package was found outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art Monday afternoon — prompting road closures and traffic jams before the NYPD Bomb Squad deemed it safe.
The package was found at East 82nd Street and 5th Avenue around 1:30 p.m. and was cleared about 2 1/2 hours later.
The NYPD’s 19th Precinct tweeted about the incident, which tied up traffic in the area.
“ADVISORY: Officers are currently investigating reports of a suspicious package in front of @metmuseum on the Upper East Side. 5th Avenue, East 81st Street to East 84th Street is CLOSED to traffic & pedestrians,” the precinct’s Twitter account read.
The precinct then followed up just before 4 p.m. that the packaged was deemed safe and that all streets and sidewalks had reopened.
Photos from the scene showed a suitcase abandoned in a crosswalk.
Witnesses took to Twitter saying they were “evacuated” from the world-famous museum, which could not be reached for comment.
“Just got evacuated from the Met….tons of cops, Fifth Avenue blocked,” one person tweeted.
A suspicious package, located at 82nd Street and Fifth Avenue, by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, cleared by the NYPD ESU Bomb Squad, turned out to be a suitcase with clothing, on April 26, 2020. James Messerschmidt