NY Public Library’s Main Branch Evacuated & Bomb Squad Finds Only Threat Is A Trash Can Fire
The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, the New York Public Library’s flagship branch on 5th Ave., was put on lockdown on the morning of July 6th after a suspicious package was found near a flaming trash can. The NYPD confirmed to Straus News that the mystery package yielded no active threat. The library reopened for midday business.
| 10 Jul 2023 | 08:36
The scene outside the NYPL’s Stephen A. Scwarzman Building on the morning of July 6th, after the NYPD evacuated the building to investigate a package near a burning trash can. The search yielded no active threats, and the library reopened. (
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The exterior of the NYPL’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on July 6th, soon after the library was temporarily evacuated when the NYPD investigated a suspicious package near a burning trash can. (
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On the morning of Thursday, July 6th, a suspicious package was found near a burning trash can outside the New York Public Library’s 5th Ave. branch, prompting the NYPD to order the evacuation of the building and call in a bomb squad. An NYPD spokesperson told Straus News that the search yielded nothing other than the obvious instance of arson, and that no “active threat” was present as of presstime.
Amy Geduldig, a PR spokesperson for the New York Public Library, confirmed that “there was a report of a fire on 41st Street and Fifth Avenue and NYPD recommended the evacuation of the 42nd Street Library for the safety of visitors and staff. The Library has since reopened.”
At around 1:30 p.m. E.T., there wasn’t a cop in sight at the branch location. Likely due to the searing heat, many were seeking refuge in the company of books and filing in and out of the entrance as if nothing had happened. A security guard checking bags told Straus News that she was not authorized to speak on any shutdown, and briskly continued business as usual.