Police outside the Queens Place Mall Monday (Citizen)
Jan. 4, 2020 By Michael Dorgan
The NYPD Bomb Squad has determined that a suspicious device reported at the Queens Place Mall Monday morning was a hoax.
Police received a report at 8:40 a.m. that there was a device, with a battery hooked up to two propane tanks, inside a Black Tesla inside a garage at the mall.
Police, the NYPD Bomb Squad and emergency services were deployed to the scene near 56th Ave. and Queens Blvd. The mall was evacuated.
The Bomb Squad investigated the car and determined that the device was a hoax. The NYPD also said it found a dog trapped inside the vehicle.
The NYPD gave the all-clear at around 11 a.m.
UPDATE: The suspicious package in the @NYPD110Pct has been deemed a hoax device.
Immediately upon responding to the initial scene, officers from @NYPDCT and @NYPDSpecialops rescued this husky that was trapped inside the vehicle. pic.twitter.com/Ik9Q8ZEo6q
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) January 4, 2021
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The Tesla was stolen. From the NYDaily News:
Hours later, law enforcement officials said investigators were seeking a 22-year-old man with extremist right-wing views who had been arrested twice last week on charges that he burned posters near Gracie Mansion.
The man being sought, Louis Shenker, was well known to the police and federal agents for antagonizing officers and protesters at demonstrations against police brutality last year and for attacking Mayor Bill de Blasio on an Instagram account, one of the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing.
Mr. Shenker also had his own podcast known as “The Minuteman,” on which he aired his far-right views, the official said. Among other things, he had threatened to conduct a citizen’s arrest of Mr. de Blasio and had said he intended to travel to Georgia to try and disrupt the runoff election Tuesday that will decide control of the United States Senate.
In December, Mr. Shenker was interviewed by the F.B.I. because of threats he had made while livestreaming during an anti-mask protest at a pub in Staten Island that had defied a state order to shut down, the official said.
Any Tesla ever entering in the vincinity of Elmhurst, let alone Queens Place, should have been the first tipoff.
Tesla? Rewind the cameras and check who dropped it there.. Should not be rocket science.
Glad everything is ok.
Sounds like possibly a case of the Tesla owner’s home-made battery charger and an overly-suspicious mall-goer.
Also, was the dog inside the car really ‘trapped’? Is it illegal to leave your dog in a car while you run a quick errand if the temperature is ok? Of course, you shouldnt do it when its 80+ degrees out, or below freezing. But how is that detail even note-worthy?
Also, if the device was found to be benign, are they planning to reimburse the Tesla owner for property damage? Im guessing there probably was some…