Portion of Mississippi highway closed after possible explosives reported in vehicle.
Published 6:16 am Tuesday, January 9, 2024
- Police lights at night in the city
A portion of Highway 182 in Mississippi was closed Monday after receiving a call about possible explosives in a vehicle.
Deputies from the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Office responded, evacuated the business, and established an exclusion zone around the area.
According to an OCSO news release, a K9 Unit responded from Mississippi State University at the request of the Sheriff. The K9 gave a positive alert on the vehicle.
Deputies then notified all residents in the area via Code Red and evacuated nearby residences and businesses.
Oktibbeha County Emergency Management was notified and began gathering state and federal assets for the area.
As a precautionary measure, the Sheriff’s Department, with the assistance of the Mississippi Highway Patrol, shut down Hwy 182 from Hwy 45 to Camps Airport Road.
Once all necessary assets were on the scene, the vehicle was searched. Several firearms were located inside the vehicle, but no explosives were found.
The scene was cleared, and Hwy 182 opened at approximately 5:30 pm.
“Despite social media comments and speculation to the contrary, there were NO bomb threats called in to any agency or business,” an Oktibbeha Sheriff’s Office news release said. “The business was notified by a person that explosive materials were contained within a vehicle that had been towed to the yard. This prompted the response to search for and recover those materials. At no time did the caller threaten the business or any person there.”
“Sheriff Shank Phelps would like to thank the Oktibbeha County Emergency Management Agency, the MSU Police Department, the Mississippi Highway Patrol, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the Mississippi Office of Homeland Security, the East Oktibbeha County Volunteer Fire Department, the City of Clinton Police Department Bomb Squad and Deputies of OCSD A shift who responded to the scene and worked to bring this situation to a safe and successful conclusion,” the news release said.