Timeline for Portsmouth NH Bus Standoff

Seacoastonline has what appears to be an up-to-date timeline on the Portsmouth, NH, bus standoff.

Hanover Street cleared; robotic devices sent to inspect bus during bomb scare

By Staff reports
news@seacoastonline.com
May 06, 2010 11:41 AMPORTSMOUTH

Five hours after police were called to the area of the High-Hanover parking garage for a report of a possible bomb aboard a Greyhound bus, police cleared Hanover Street of onlookers and media, while one man remained on the bus and robotic devices were sent in to inspect the scene.

Sixteen other passengers walked away from the bus two hours after the initial call, with their hands in the air, down the middle of Hanover Street, flanked by SWAT team members.

By 5:30 p.m., according to Schwartz, police had deployed at least two robotic devices, one of which contained video equipment, to inspect the bus.

"We certainly would like him to get off the bus," said Portsmouth Police Capt. Mike Schwartz of the man that remained on board at 5 p.m.

At approximately 11:40 a.m. Thursday, police and firefighters responded to the area of the High-Hanover parking garage, where they surrounded a Greyhound bus while watching a subject inside. Shortly afterwards emergency responders began evacuating nearby businesses.

Police Chief Lou Ferland said police had received information that there may be a subject on the bus with a bomb.

According to Schwartz, 17 people were on the bus, the driver was not on board during the response, and there had been phone contact with a passenger on the bus, which had stopped in Portsmouth while en route to Boston, Mass. from Portland, Maine.

As the scene unfolded, city police were joined by other local, state and federal agencies including Exeter and Hampton police, the Seacoast Emergency Response Team (SERT), a K-9 unit from Dover, the N.H. State Police bomb disposal unit, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), immigration and customs officials and the FBI. At approximately 12:30 p.m. an armored vehicle was called in from Rye.

Police urged people to stay away from the downtown area.

At 1 p.m. Schwartz said police had been talking with passengers on the bus but have not asked or directed anyone to remain there, and that police were not calling the scene a hostage situation. "The call (from a passenger) to us was a concern based on an observation," said the captain. "We're making the situation as safe as possible."

At approximately 1:30 p.m. passengers exited the bus with their hands up, and one man remained on the bus and appeared to be handcuffed.

SERT members gathered the passengers, who appeared to be in handcuffs, in the High-Hanover parking garage before police transported them to the Portsmouth station for interviews by local police and the FBI, according to Schwartz.

By 2:40 p.m., according to Schwartz, police had attempted to establish phone communication with the man who remained on the bus, and stressed that police were not naming anybody a suspect at that time.

At approximately 3:10 p.m., emergency officials were preparing to inspect the bus with a motorized robotic device which, according to Schwartz, did not necessarily indicate the presence of a bomb, but contained video capabilities which could be used for inspection.

Approximately 20 responders were seen exiting a large N.H. Department of Safety vehicle and boarded another bus which drove away from the scene.

State and city officials on scene included N.H. Senior Assistant Attorney General Jane Young, Portsmouth Mayor Tom Ferrini, and Father Angelo Pappas, the Portsmouth Fire Dept. chaplain.

Portsmouth High School sophomore Robert Swan said he received a text message about the incident, and that within ten minutes word of the event was all over the school. Swan said all after-school programs were canceled as a precaution, and that many students' facebook pages indicated they had joined onlookers downtown to see what was happening.

N.H. Governor John Lynch, at the Emergency Operations Center in Concord, said in a brief statement that the situation remains fluid and could go on for some time.

Restrictions were put on air travel in the area, which kept television helicopters from flying overhead at closer than 3,000 feet.

According to Schwartz, police had not recovered any type of device from the bus.

As indicated in the blue highlighted paragraph, even with this detailed coverage the facts are confused -- did the passengers have their hands in the air, wear handcuffs, or both, or neither. But it seems significant that the governor thinks this situation "could go on for some time".