Suspicious Package Dismantled Thursday at West End Bank of America

West End Atlanta residents got a chance to see just how prepared the city's homeland security operation is when trained police personnel dismantled a suspicious bag found Thursday just before 9 a.m. outside the .

According to Major Lane Hagin of the Atlanta Police Special Operations, an employee found a package outside the bank, at 711 Lee St., shortly before the bank was to open and called the. The zone then called the Atlanta Police Bomb Response Unit who attracted a steady stream of onlookers behind yellow police tape until noon, when the team finished the operation.

Hagin said the unit took several steps to properly dismantle the package. First, he said, the team used a water jet and then, around 11 a.m., the crew employed an explosive charge that was heard several blocks over, according to residents.

After the charge, the unit sent in a robot to roam the area and, finally, a team member—by all accounts, quite brave; by one onlooker, "a bad boy"—to finish the break down and remove the package.

Hagin said no bomb was found in the package but the unit will investigate the package thoroughly and the investigation is continuing.

When asked if officials had found any link to the, Hagin said that nothing was ruled out, at this point.

"It's still so early in the investigation," Hagin said, "but, obviously, we are looking at everything."

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