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Streets reopen downtown after suspicious package causes evacuations

Report of suspicious package

Officers say the scene is all clear after they investigated a report of a suspicious package at 231 Peachtree St. NE on Tuesday afternoon.

Portions of Peachtree Center Mall were evacuated as a precaution and SWAT teams and the bomb squad were called to the scene to investigate.

Channel 2's Matt Johnson learned that someone reported two backpacks in the food court near the Hard Rock Cafe. Police searched them and found that they were full of school supplies.

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Police said with the recent bombs mailed across the country, there's a new focus on anything that looks suspicious.

Police tape was strung across the road in front of restaurants as officials investigated. International Blvd. NE between Peachtree Center Ave. NE and Peachtree St. NE was closed but has since reopened.

Today may have been a false alarm, but this is the second time this week police had been called to investigate a suspicious package.

Monday, a post office on Pryor street was evacuated when a package addressed to CNN similar to ones sent to various Democratic leaders and CNN in New York was found.

The suspect in those cases, Cesar Sayoc, made a court appearance Monday.

He is charged with sending more than a dozen potential bombs to various people and organizations.

The FBI has not linked Sayoc to this latest bomb scare. But last week investigators suspected he may have mailed dozens of packages.

WATCH LIVE: Report of a suspicous package downtown

WATCH LIVE: NewsChopper 2 is live over the scene in downtown Atlanta where a report of a suspicious package has shutdown several streets: https://2wsb.tv/2PzyJ9m

Posted by WSB-TV on Tuesday, October 30, 2018
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