NEW BRUNSWICK — Rutgers University police investigated the report of a suspicious package on the Douglass parking deck on Monday morning.

Shortly after 10 a.m., authorities said the package had been cleared.

An alert had been sent out telling the university community to avoid the area. Rutgers spokesman E.J. Miranda said that Rutgers University Police closed off the area and were working to determine whether the package, which was first spotted around 7:30 a.m., presented a danger.

"The safety of our students, staff and faculty are our primary concern," Miranda wrote in an email. "No classes are held within that perimeter. The emergency passed without further disruption and all facilities are operating normally."

The threat comes as police and the FBI surround an Elizabeth apartment where Chelsea bombing suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, lived. Five explosive devices were found nearby hours earlier in a trash can near the Elizabeth Station. One of the devices went off accidentally while being handled by a bomb squad.

Explosive devices also went off at a 5K event in Seaside Park on Saturday to benefit a charity that helps military veterans, and later inside a dumpster in the Chelsea section of Manhattan.

Authorities now say all three events are believed to be connected.

 

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