[Vision2020] Some April Fools Pranks are Simply Ill-Advised

[Tom Hansen]

There are some novelty gifts you probably should not have delivered to the World Financial Center.

Courtesy of the Daily Mail (United Kingdom) at:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2128864/Employee-placed-leave-toy-grenade-building-World-Trade-Center-site-prompts-mass-evacuation.html
 
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Who thought it was a good idea to order a toy grenade to the World Financial Center? Employee put on leave after realistic replica sparks mass evacuation

The employee who deemed it appropriate to ship a realistic-looking toy grenade to Two World Financial Center - sparking a mass evacuation - has been placed on administrative leave.

The misguided move came a decade after the building near the World Trade Center site was severely damaged by falling debris when the Twin Towers collapsed in the September 11 attacks.

The toy grenade, which is mounted on a board that reads 'Complaint Department: Please Take A Number', was cleared by a New York police bomb squad as a toy after it was delivered on Thursday.

Peter Garritano, spokesman for Japanese investment bank Nomura Holdings, which is headquartered in the tower, would not identify the employee or their position but confirmed they had been placed on leave. 

But law enforcement source told NBC New York it was a maintenance worker who had ordered the item.

The 'suspicious' item was spotted by a security guard during a routine X-ray screening of packages at Two World Financial Center, a 44-story building with 2.7 million square feet of office space.

The discovery prompted a mass evacuation at 11 a.m. and the arrival of the New York Police Department's bomb squad around the scene in Lower Manhattan.

Employees throughout the building had received calls telling them to evacuate and they began 'darting out the building', one said.

The grenade, which came through the mail, turned out to be a novelty item, police said. 'You don't want to be the guy who ordered that thing,' one employee told NBC. 'It's definitely embarrassing.'

NBC reported an 'all clear' on its Twitter feed at 12.27pm. Employees trickled back into the building shortly after.

Even though precautionary evacuations are held regularly at the World Trade Center buildings, employees took the threat seriously.

One employee, Octavio Diaz, was wearing a neon yellow backpack as he led colleagues from the building to a nearby volleyball court to wait, NBC reported.

'Stuff like this happens, so you've got to take it seriously,' he said. 'We're ready to go.' 

Others admitted they had been unnerved by the discovery. 'I think those things are a bit scary in light of 9/11, so we take it pretty seriously,' one said.

Two World Financial Center had to be closed for repairs until May 2002 as a result of the damage it sustained from the terrorist attacks on New York City in 2001.

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Misguided: An employee shipped this toy grenade to the World Trade Center, sparking a mass evacuation.


 
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High alert: 2 World Financial Center in lower Manhattan was evacuated at 11am on Thursday after a suspicious package believed to contain explosives was found as security guards checked packages.



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Rapid response: The bomb squad surround the financial building which was severely damaged on 9/11 due to its proximity to the World Trade Center site.


 
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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"If not us, who?
If not now, when?"

- Unknown


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