SAN DIEGO (CNS) - The discovery of an unidentified box underneath a car parked outside a Mission Beach hotel Monday prompted authorities to cordon off the area and close part of a nearby street until investigators determined there was nothing hazardous inside.
A witness made a 911 call shortly before 9:30 a.m. to report seeing a man in jeans and a white T-shirt put the object beneath an employee's unoccupied car outside the Hilton San Diego Resort & Spa, 1775
, according to police.
Officers strung up crime-scene tape around part of the parking lot and blocked off a short stretch of the roadway in front of the hotel while a bomb squad was en route, SDPD public-affairs Officer Matt Tortorella said.
The ordnance-handling personnel used a remote-controlled robot to determine that the box held no explosives or other hazardous materials, said Lee Swanson, a spokesman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. It was not immediately clear what was inside it, if anything.
Authorities gave an all-clear and reopened the area to the public shortly before noon.