Grenade found; building evacuated

The ATF is investigating the storage of weapons in the Park Trammell Building, but no link to terrorism is suspected.

By TAMARA LUSH, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 25, 2003

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TAMPA -- About 400 employees at a state office building downtown were evacuated Monday morning after a maintenance worker discovered a rifle, two boxes of ammunition and a hand grenade inside a storage room.

[Times photo: Ken Helle] Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives examine a rifle found in a storage room at the Part Trammell Building in Tampa.

For a couple of hours, a dozen federal agents and Tampa police officers swarmed the Park Trammell Building at the corner of Tampa and Laurel streets. The grenade was disassembled, and no one was injured. Employees left their offices about 8 a.m. after the maintenance worker pulled a fire alarm. People streamed out of the building, past the metal detector and a security guard.

"The guard actually had a serious look on his face," said Anthony Sinatra, a financial examiner for the Department of Financial Services, one of many government offices housed in the building. "He usually doesn't."

Sinatra and other employees later learned the rifle, ammunition and grenade were found on the second floor near the cafeteria.

Authorities said that the weapons were owned by an employee of the building and that the incident was not related to terrorism. They refused to give any more information Monday.

The employee was not identified. It wasn't immediately clear if the employee was planning to use the weapons or if he had stored them in the building.

"The situation is under control," said Carlos Baixauli, an agent with the Tampa office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. "Everyone is safe."

Baixauli would not say whether the grenade was live.

"We're treating it as a live grenade," he said.

The ATF, along with representatives from the state Inspector General's Office, is investigating.

Traffic on Tampa and Laurel streets was diverted for about 21/2 hours while authorities examined the gun and grenade in the building's loading dock area.

A gunpowder-sniffing dog named Scout nosed through the nine-story building, and found no other explosives. About 10:15, the streets were opened to traffic and employees were allowed back inside.

Several state agencies have branches in the building, including the Department of Children and Families, Probation and Parole and the Secretary of State. DCF has 136 employees in that building, an agency spokeswoman said.

The building is supervised by the Florida Division of Management Services.

Tampa Mayor Dick Greco drove to the building to take a look at the weapons. "Just about everything that happens today could be one of the what-ifs that we train on," Greco said. "I'm so relieved that it wasn't something worse."

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