NYC Subway Station Shut Down After Two Pressure Cookers Found

Reports said two pressure cookers closed down the Fulton Street subway station in Lower Manhattan on Friday morning.

Authorities said the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) Bomb Squad determined the pressure cookers were not explosives. A 911 caller alerted police to the situation, and a police spokesperson said people were evacuated in order to exercise “an abundance of caution.”

Reports said trains were also diverted from the station, causing significant delays in operations.

The NYPD tweeted an advisory to those near the subway station early Friday morning.

“ADVISORY: Please avoid the area of Fulton St & William St in the Fulton St subway station (Manhattan) due to a police investigation,” the tweet read. “Expect a police presence and emergency vehicles in the area. Check @NYCTSubway for possible schedule changes. More info to follow.”

The department again tweeted at 5:46 a.m. local time that officers had given the all clear.

Reports said both pressure cookers were placed 25-feet apart inside the station near an elevator and subway platform on the lower level. The NYPD Counter Terrorism Bureau shared two photos of the devices on Twitter following the initial event.

“Our @NYPDCT Bomb Squad has cleared the devices inside of Fulton Street subway station in Lower Manhattan. They are NOT explosive devices,” the department wrote.

Reports said law enforcement have been “highly responsive” to the devices since the bombing at the 2013 Boston Marathon when brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev used a pressure cooker as an explosive that killed three people and injured over 200.

Additionally, the Fulton Street subway station is in close proximity to the World Trade Center site.

New York City mayor Bill de Blasio thanked law enforcement in a tweet Friday morning for their quick response to the potentially dangerous situation.

“The NYPD’s Bomb Squad has cleared both devices found earlier this morning at Fulton Center,” he wrote. “Thank you @NYPDCT for the quick response and everyone who kept calm through this. An investigation is ongoing.”

An hour after police were called to the Fulton Street subway station, they were alerted to a third suspicious device found inside a garbage can in Chelsea, reports said.

However, fifteen minutes later police determined the device was not dangerous. Authorities noted that it was too soon to tell if the events were related.