Sunday, August 05, 2007

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said there was ‘no immediate threat’ after a portion of St. James Avenue, U.S. Highway 176, in Goose Creek was shut down for several hours Saturday evening.Authorities closed the road near the Devon Pointe Apartments about 7 p.m. after a traffic stop, and it was still closed as of press time.By 11:20 p.m. there were more than a dozen police cars, fire trucks and an ambulance surrounding a gray sedan. A bomb squad robot was looking into the trunk of the car, and the passenger’s door was open. The Red Cross had also arrived on the scene.At 11:45 p.m., Julie Johnson, assistant special agent in charge, FBI-Columbia, told reporters amassed at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses that there was no immediate threat but she would answer no questions. She said the FBI was still trying to determine if a crime had been committed.She said the agency was working with state and local agencies, and that they were going to be there a long time.

A witness, Jack Knuoff, said that at about 6 p.m. he saw police make a traffic stop where three police officers were talking with one man who might have been of Middle Eastern descent.

Knuoff, who was sitting at the scene in a lawn chair, said he didn’t think the stop was important, and went home, but returned after his brother called to say more police had been called to the scene.