[Ballymore Sun] Baltimore police discovered a van loaded with 1,000 gallons of gasoline Monday morning and are evacuating several office buildings from the Inner Harbor ‐ where emergency officials are urging people to stay away, city council members confirmed.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is assisting Baltimore police on the scene.
A police spokesperson said they received a call at 11:02 a.m. about a suspicious van and began evacuating 100 E. Pratt St., which houses T. Rowe Price and and global professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Baltimore Police Col. Sheree Briscoe told City Council members that they are evacuating a four-block radius around 100 East Pratt St. and are asking the community to not travel to that area while the police investigate.
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But a police robot that entered the 15-passenger van with blacked out windows did not discover a bomb. Instead, it found a device used for stealing diesel fuel and two bins full of possibly stolen gasoline, police said. Several city officials said they were told the van contained approximately 1,000 gallons of gasoline, but a spokesman for the Maryland Department of the Environment later said about 80 gallons of diesel fuel was offloaded.
Baltimore’s arson unit is investigating but no suspects have been identified. The massive emergency response Monday was aided by Capital police from Washington and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers who were concerned for what they described as "elite visitors” expected to visit Baltimore on Thursday.
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