Bloomington 'Bomb' Was Part Of Halloween Costume

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A suspicious device that prompted the evacuation of an apartment building Wednesday was left behind from an old Halloween costume, police said Friday.

Bloomington police Lt. David Drake said detectives talked to a 21-year-old former resident of the apartment in which the device was found and determined that he had left it behind by mistake.

The man told police that the item was part of a costume that he had worn to a party in 2009.

"(He) had no intention of scaring or intimidating anyone with it," Drake said. "The man did provide detectives with a picture of himself with the fake bomb at what appeared to be a costume party."

Several people were evacuated from Bradford Place Collegiate Residences after a maintenance worker found it in a closet during an inspection.

"The item consisted of five pieces of PVC pipe painted red and wrapped together with black tape, with red wires running from the ends of the pipes into an alarm clock," Drake said.

Police, firefighters and a bomb squad from Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center were called to the scene after the discovery.

A robot was sent in to retrieve the device, which investigators determined was not a bomb.

Investigators initially believe it had been left there intentionally. No charges will be filed.