Discarded Pressure Cooker Sparks Bomb Scare At LI High School

GLEN HEAD, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A Long Island high school was evacuated Wednesday after a pressure cooker found in the trash caused a bomb scare.

A member of the staff at North Shore High School found the pressure cooker at around 10 a.m. and called 911, WCBS 880's Marla Diamond reported.

Nassau County Police Detective Richard LeBrun says the high school was evacuated and the arson bomb squad removed the item.

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"They did conclude at that point that this was an unfounded situation," LeBrun said. "The pressure cooker was empty. The pressure cooker is owned by the school and was discarded in a recycling pile." 

Authorities determined the device was not dangerous, and had belonged to the school's science department before it was tossed.

A homemade explosive device crafted from a pressure cooker was found in a bag on West 27th Street following an explosion that rocked Chelsea on Sept. 17. Another explosion disrupted a 5K marathon in Seaside Park, New Jersey, and a bag containing five pipe bombs was also found in Elizabeth, New Jersey over the weekend.

"In this heightened state of alertness, everybody is concerned at this point," LeBrun said.

The explosions led to an intense manhunt of bombing suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami, who was arrested following a shootout with Linden Police.

LeBrun is urging residents to contact authorities if they see anything suspicious.

On Monday, an employee of a Best Buy in Bay Shore called police to report an unattended backpack. A police robot determined there were only spiral notebooks inside.

Police in New York City say hundreds of 911 callers have reported suspicious packages since the Saturday night explosion in Manhattan.

Police say they've received 406 phone calls of suspicious packages throughout the five boroughs between 8:30 p.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Monday.

None of the packages turned out to contain explosives.

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