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MPR News Staff
St. Paul

Police detonate what looked like a pipe bomb at Brooklyn Park college

A bomb squad truck sits outside Hennepin Technical College
A Minneapolis bomb squad truck sits outside of Hennepin Technical College in Brooklyn Center after a reported bomb threat on Thursday.
Evan Frost | MPR News

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Updated 5:30 p.m. | Posted 12:05 p.m.

Brooklyn Park police say a device that resembled a pipe bomb was discovered at Hennepin Technical College Thursday, sparking the evacuation of the entire campus and cancellation of classes for the day.

Earlier, students and staff were sent a message of an active shooter on the campus northwest of the Twin Cities, but that was retracted and replaced with a corrected alert.

Brooklyn Park Deputy Chief Mark Bruley said at a news conference that it's not known yet whether the device was in fact a bomb or just made to look like one. It was found in a "commons area" outside offices.

Bruley said there were cameras, whose footage will be part of the investigation.

The device was brought outside and detonated by the Minneapolis Bomb Squad and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF.

"It is clear to us that it was intentionally made to appear as an explosive, but because it was disrupted for safety reasons, we don't know what its capacity was, or if it was even capable of being detonated on its own," Bruley said.

Regional and federal investigators will test the device to determine whether it contained explosive material.

The college staff did not report any threats to themselves or the school, Bruley said.

Hennepin Tech is part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. In a statement, Minnesota State said staff at the Brooklyn Park campus found the package at about 11:16 a.m.

While "proper protocols" were followed and an email and voicemail with correct information were sent out, an automated text message also went out to the campus community about an active shooter, an accident that was due to "human error," officials said. The corrected message went out 25 minutes later, Hennepin Tech spokesperson Nairobi Abrams said.

Hennepin Tech's Eden Prairie campus was not affected.

Correction: An earlier version of this story used an incorrect time for when the package was found.