Denver police gave the all clear just before 7 p.m for an apartment building near the Auraria Campus that was evacuated for 3½ hours Saturday afternoon after a report of a suspicious device.
Police spokesman Sonny Jackson said roommates of a student had observed and reported a suspicious item about 3:30 p.m., but ultimately Denver fire and police technicians determined it was not an explosive or hazardous device.
Police Technician Eranda Piyasena said officials couldn’t provide any information about what the device actually was.
It could be someone’s science project, for all he knew, Jackson said.
The investigation continues, he said, but no one was detained or arrested in connection with the case.
As the evacuation began, police tweeted a notice that they had closed roads one block in each direction near the Campus Village Apartments at 5th and Walnut streets.
University of Colorado Denver and Metropolitan State University students living at the complex were shut out of their residences, and without access to their cars, for 3½ hours. It started with police knocking on their doors and telling them to get out, they said. And they received a text from campus officials.
Up to 75 students huddled in knots of half a dozen or more, sitting on grass or pavement, chatting and watching from half a block away as a few dozen uniformed men milled around emergency vehicles outside their blockaded building.
As Saturday afternoon dragged into evening, the stranded students complained about being simultaneously scared, bored and hungry — as well as concerned about lab reports not getting written and test materials not studied.
They watched and exclaimed as police escorted one student into the building.
“I spend a lot of money to go here, and I would have liked to have been a little better informed through this,” said 19-year-old Jacob Massey.
It was “very annoying” to lose all this time without much explanation, said 18-year-old Chanler Kelly.
