Traffic blocked during three-hour standoff
Traffic in Five Points was blocked for hours early Saturday afternoon, as police responded to a bomb threat in a Rite Aid drug store.
A man walked up to a counter in the Harden Street store shortly before 11 a.m. and told an employee he had an explosive, according to Jennifer Timmons, a spokesman for the Columbia Police Department.
Customers and employees evacuated the building and notified police. Shortly thereafter, police blocked Harden from with College Street to Greene Street, and a standoff ensued for hours.
It ended at around 2 p.m., Timmons said, when a robot was sent into the store and found a homeless man passed out near the pharmacy. Police did not find any explosives, and no one was injured, Timmons said.
Police have identified that man as Gregg Hiers, 58; he was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital, Timmons said.
Information about which hospital Hiers was taken to and what he is being treated for was not immediately available Saturday afternoon.
This wasn't Hiers's first run-in with police. His criminal record includes charges for drugs, assualt and battery with an intent to kill and drunkness, Timmons said.
Police haven't yet filed charges in the incident, but those are forthcoming, Timmons said. Traffic in the Five Points area is back to normal.
Check back with The Daily Gamecock for more information as it becomes available.