'Suspicious items' cause Wylie businesses to evacuate, police say avoid the area
Wylie businesses evacuate due to 'suspicious items'
Wylie police and Plano's bomb squad were called to investigate suspicious items dropped off near a pawn shop on Monday morning.
WYLIE, Texas - Wylie police and fire officials investigated suspicious items left outside a pawn shop on Monday morning.
Some neighboring businesses were evacuated and people were asked to avoid the area while the bomb squad worked to make sure the items were safe.
Suspicious Items Discovered
What we know:
Wylie police said officers were called to Texas Dollar Pawn & Gun along State Highway 78 before 9 a.m. for an illegal dumping investigation.
The manager of Texas Dollar Pawn called Wylie Police Department and said an unknown person dropped off a 55-gallon drum and propane tank near the business.
Wylie Fire Rescue and the Plano Police Department's bomb squad were also called in to help investigate the items.
Video from SKY 4 showed a bomb squad robot approaching the items and knocking over the 55-gallon drum.
Wylie Police Department says diesel fuel was poured onto the objects.
A photo provided to Fox 4 appears to show aerosol cans and dozens of golf balls scattered across the parking lot after the bucket was worked on by the bomb squad.
The scene was rendered safe around 12:30 p.m. Monday afternoon.
Nearby businesses were evacuated and the southbound side of Hwy. 78 was shut down near the area throughout the investigation.
What they're saying:
Texas Dollar Pawn manager Justin Foust was concerned after initially seeing the footage on Monday morning.
"We were thinking everything, really like, is someone mad at us? Or is someone just crazy and wanting to hurt the vehicles going by on the highway?" asked Foust. "We have good ratings, and we’re proud of that and not a lot of people get really angry at us. That’s what we were thinking in our heads: Who could’ve done this and why?"
Sergeant Donald English from the Wylie Police Department said they are still investigating who and why spilled this hazardous material on the street.
"At this point, we dont know what the motive was," said English. "And so we don’t know if the individual had any desire to set it on fire. We don’t know what the plan was at this moment."
What we don't know:
Wylie police will not confirm what they discovered inside the 55-gallon drum.
They're still trying to determine who left the suspicious items in the parking lot and why.
What you can do:
The investigation is ongoing.
Contact Wylie Police Department with any tips concerning this case.
The Source: Information in this article is from the Wylie Police Department and SKY 4.