LANCASTER, Pa. — A series of bomb threats on Saturday morning led police to shut down multiple streets and order an evacuation of residents.
At 9:19 a.m., during a preplanned sweep of the Lancaster Public Library in anticipation of an event, K-9s with Lancaster City Police and Lancaster County Sheriff Deputy alerted their handlers to a suspicious package.
Police immediately called the state police bomb squad and shut down the 100 block of North Queen Street.
Once the bomb squad got to the scene, they searched the premises and cleared the scene.
Police say the package the K-9s found was deemed to be safe. According to police, it contained coloring books ordered by a staff member.
According to a Facebook post by Lancaster Pride, the Drag Queen Story Hour was supposed to take place at the library on Saturday at 1 p.m. but was canceled due to safety concerns.
“One of the arguments was that we were not keeping our children safe with this program, this is what is not keeping our children safe," said Lissa Holland, Lancaster Public Library Executive Director.
The event had been getting pushback from some community members, including some GOP leaders, in the weeks leading up to Saturday.
Among those against the event, is Pennsylvania House Minority Leader Brian Cutler (R-Lancaster) who released a statement last week criticizing the event and the library for hosting it.
Other Lancaster County state representatives also released similar statements, saying the event is immoral and is meant to sexualize children.
Lancaster Pride who organized the event said it doesn't promote anything sexual or immoral to children.
"It is 100% family-friendly, age-appropriate, there's nothing going on that is not appropriate for children," said Tiffany Shirley, president of Lancaster Pride.
Shirley believes the perceived threat was in connection to the library’s story time event.
"Because people don’t agree with whatever they don’t agree with, they have chosen to ruin this for everybody and put the city in harm," Shirley said.
Shortly after clearing the library, police say they got more bomb threats via email about explosive devices planted in the areas of the 100 blocks of North Lime and North Queen Streets as well as outside city police's jurisdiction.
Residents were ordered to evacuate their homes immediately and police secured the premises.
Once the areas were deemed safe, K-9s were sent in to clear the scenes.
Police say no explosive devices were found and residents were allowed to return to their homes after the evacuation order was lifted.
All the areas are now open and police say there is no danger to the public.
Police Chief Richard Mendez had this to say about today's events, "Not only do bomb threats disrupt the peace and safety of our community, they waste valuable public resources. These threats trigger costly responses and stretch our resources thin, leaving our community vulnerable to genuine emergencies. Bomb threats will not be tolerated, and we are committed to identifying and prosecuting those responsible."
“Hate will not win, and hate does not live in Lancaster and Lancaster Pride is going to remind them that we’re here and we’re allowed to exist," Shirley said.
Lancaster City Bureau of Police emphasized they take all potential threats seriously and respond with caution.
Police say while today's threats proved to be unfounded, they will exhaust all efforts to investigate who sent them.
Anyone with information is asked to call police at 717-735-3300.