The Statue of Liberty and Liberty Island were evacuated after a suspicious package was found in lockers on the premises, reports CNN.
Senior law enforcement officials and the National Parks Service confirmed to local and national news networks that the major tourist destination had in fact received a bomb threat.
As major news sources picked up the story though, Twitter was already bursting with photos and tweets from tourists and New Yorkers on the scene at the iconic American landmark .
https://twitter.com/RichMP/status/591641419204300800
Ongoing evacuation at #LibertyIsland after alarm went off. #statueofliberty https://t.co/n8U2ngFVXN
— Limportant.US (@Limportant_com) April 24, 2015
https://twitter.com/missmagen23/status/591641468491718656
#StatueofLiberty is being evacuated, officials doing a security sweep of the area according to @NatlParkService,
— Chris Boyette (@Chris__Boyette) April 24, 2015
As is often the case these days, social media and mainstream media broke the story together in real time.
Sat on the boat off #libertyisland after being evacuated from #statueofliberty due to bomb scare. pic.twitter.com/aRylpcX5kl
— Mark Lewis (@mbwlewis) April 24, 2015
https://twitter.com/Funeralbbp/status/591656356001800193
https://twitter.com/KavalonThatsMe/status/591654807783485441
Of course, this being the Internet, people are already cracking jokes about the “suspicious package.”
https://twitter.com/theInhibitor/status/591656669790261249
No word yet on who called in the bomb threat. The Daily Dot will update with more information as it becomes available. Stay safe, New York.
Photo via Jeroen van Luin/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)