Operations Resume At Terminal 2 After Evacuation

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Terminal 2 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was evacuated for about two hours Sunday and one woman was being questioned by police after authorities found a device that appeared suspicious.

Transportation Security Administration found the "suspicious device" in a piece of checked baggage around 4:30 p.m. Sunday, airport spokeswoman Melissa Scovronski said, prompting the evacuation.

The bomb squad from the Bloomington Police Department examined the object, then took it from the airport for further evaluation. Once the device was removed, passengers were allowed back into the terminal around 6:30 p.m.

Scovronski did not have details on the nature of the device, but said it was discovered when the bag went through a machine that screens checked luggage. Officials determined it belonged to a woman whose flight was delayed by the evacuation, and that woman was being questioned by airport police.

Scovronski had no further information about the woman but said she was not arrested.

Terminal 2, also known as the Humphrey Terminal — named after former Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey — is the smaller of the two terminals at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. It handles less than 10 percent of the airport's passenger volume.

Terminal 2 was also evacuated about a month ago when another checked bag contained items that appeared suspicious. Officials determined the PVC pipes and wires in that piece of luggage was part of a water filtration device. No criminal charges were filed in that incident, during which a few hundred people were briefly evacuated.

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