Two arrests in Jacksonville airport closure, one "destructive device" found; Update: Suspect identified

No one is quite sure yet what happened last night at the Jacksonville airport last night, but two arrests have been made, and at least one “destructive device” has been found.  Security shut down the airport for several hours and evacuated it while dealing with two suspicious packages, one of which may have been the real thing:

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The Jacksonville International Airport was shut down for several hours after authorities found two suspicious packages — one they said was destructive — that led to an evacuation.

There was no immediate word early Wednesday about arrests and travelers were advised to check with their airlines regarding flight information.

The airport was evacuated around 6 p.m. Tuesday after police found a suspicious package in the terminal and another in a nearby parking garage. It reopened just before 11 p.m.

During a late-night news conference, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office spokesman Shannon Hartley said one of the packages “had some destructive nature” and was taken offsite. He did not elaborate.

“Some destructive nature” is about as ambiguous as it gets.  The local NBC station is less ambiguous about the arrest, but still unclear as to what happened:

Stewart and Hartley held another news conference. Hartley said a device had to be taken off site to be rendered safe by the JSO bomb squad. Hartley also said the “device certainly had some destructive nature to it.”

Stewart said one of the devices was found near the TSA checkpoint. Hartley said another device did not need to be taken off site to be rendered safe.

Stewart and Hartley would still not confirm if anyone was in custody or if any arrests have been made.

Stewart said the airport is considered open and they are in the process of bringing back airport and TSA employees. The closure of the airport resulted in the cancellation of 18 flights, four delayed flights and one diverted flight.

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Their video report attached to the story was from when the shutdown and evacuation was in progress:

We’ll update as more details arise. This looks like it might take a while to unravel.

Update: According to WOKV, only one of the arrests was directly related to the threat.  Police have named that suspect:

Police have arrested 39-year-old Zeljko Causevic and charged him with making a bomb threat and manufacture or delivery of a mail hoax bomb. JIA says one other person has been arrested for resisting arrest without violence but we’re told that’s not related to the bomb threat incident.

Sounds like a stunt.

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