McDonald’s headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois, faced a scary and serious situation when a McDonald’s worker screened a suspicious package. The building had to be evacuated late Friday morning.
The mass evacuation of over 1,000 workers occurred after an emergency call was placed to report the suspicious package at the McDonald’s headquarters, according to USA Today .
McDonald’s released a statement on its website saying the emergency call to 911 was made at 10:42 a.m. local time by McDonald’s security workers. They requested authorities to come to 2111 McDonald’s Drive, located along Cermac Road near Oakbrook Center, to inspect the suspicious package.
The Oak Brook police immediately arrived on the scene and took extra precautions to ensure the safety of everyone in the area. McDonald’s released a statement, saying, “In an abundance of caution, the building has been evacuated.”
The DuPage County bomb squad assisted in the inspection of the package, which was a bag, to determine the level of threat the bag posed to McDonald’s, according to Food World News .
The McDonald’s website said it would provide more information via its website and its spokesperson as it became available during the bomb scare.
The Chicago Tribune reported the McDonald’s headquarters building was deemed secure by the authorities around 1 p.m., approximately two hours after the incident began.
Oak Brook police officer Erica Huff reported that the item inspected was not a threat to McDonald’s headquarters.
“It was not a bomb.”
In fact, the DuPage County bomb squad identified the item found in a bag at McDonald’s headquarters as a digital media player.
McDonald’s spokeswoman, Heidi Barker Sa Shekhem, confirmed the headquarter building was secure and people could safely return to the building.
However, many employees did not return to the building as per the normal end-of-summer work schedule. Many workers were scheduled to be off duty at 1 p.m., so many followed through with the last week of summer’s schedule and left the workplace property.
The DuPage County bomb squad said the digital media player was “safe and legitimate.”
Huff could not provide information about where the bag was first discovered or why the package appeared to be suspicious to the McDonald’s workers.
