Perfume bottle sparks scare, courthouse closure

DOWNTOWN– The suspicious device that shut down the Hamilton County Courthouse on Tuesday turned out to be a perfume bottle shaped like a World War II-era hand grenade.

It even had a cap and pin, officials said.

A woman whom officials described as possibly homeless had the bottle stashed inside a suitcase she wheeled into the courthouse sometime after 8 a.m. The woman had other bags, as well. When the suitcase went through an X-ray scanner, a deputy flagged the grenade-shaped bottle.

"It looked like a World War II pineapple grenade," said Sheriff Jim Neil. "That was the design of it."

A bomb-sniffing dog was brought in and alerted deputies that the suitcase and possibly another bag were suspicious, officials said.

When asked why the dog would have reacted to the bags, Neil said they are are trained to respond to "a multitude of chemicals" that can be used to create explosives.

A product or products in the woman's bags, which were packed with belongings, may have contained peroxides, he said. Or, the bags could have been in contact with a yard that was recently fertilized. The dog would have responded to nitrates in the fertilizer.

"There's a number of possible scenarios," he said, "but the dog did (its) job."

The woman was questioned but will not face charges. Her name and age were not released.

The building at 1000 Main St. was evacuated at about 8:20 a.m.

Hundreds of people – including judges, attorneys and courthouse employees – waited outside. Traffic was diverted away from the building.

By about 10:15 a.m., two robots had entered the courthouse. They were used to open the 3-foot-tall suitcase and inspect its contents, said Jim Knapp, a spokesman for the sheriff's office.

By 11:05 a.m., court officials had decided to close the building for the rest of the day. An hour later, investigators had determined there was no threat.

County Commissioner Todd Portune praised the response by authorities, including Cincinnati firefighters and the sheriff's office bomb unit.

It showed, Portune said, that the post-9/11 training they received works.

"No one is going to say you did the wrong thing by calling in a threat," he said.

All of Tuesday's court hearings will be rescheduled by each judge's office. Anyone who had a hearing set for Tuesday, officials said, should contact their attorney or the judge's office, either in person or by phone.

Tom Groeschen contributed.