Police say downtown is safe despite armed robbery, explosives scare
Saturday was a busy one in Five Points for Columbia law enforcement officers.
A man was taken into custody by police as the suspect in a bomb threat that began at Rite Aid on Harden Street at around 11 a.m.
The suspect, found unconscious in the pharmacy are shortly before 2 p.m., was identified as 58-year-old Gregg Hiers, whose last residence was Oliver Gospel Mission and who officials say was recently released from the hospital.
Hiers is charged with communicating a threat with a weapon of mass destruction and with amed robbery.
According to official reports, Hiers walked up to the Rite Aid counter and said he was carrying an explosive. Rite Aid employees evacuated the store, and police arrived about 20 minutes later to close traffic on Harden from Greene to College Streets. SWAT arrived on the scene close to noon.
So far, police have not determined if the item Hiers was carrying was dangerous, but they do not believe it was an actual explosive. Officials have not determined if there were any motives behind the bomb threat or if drugs or alcohol were involved, but there was no attempted robbery at the site.
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, said Jennifer Timmons, a spokeswoman for the Columbia Police Department.
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.
In addition to Satudray’s bomb threat, police confirmed that there was a shooting earlier that morning at Cookout on Harden Street. Once of the restaurant’s managers was in his vehicle in the parking lot at 9 a.m.when a black male in a checkered yellow shirt approached his car with a weapon. Witnesses say he fired one round as the manager pulled his car in reverse. The manager was taken to the hospital, but police do not know if his injuries were serious.
Carolina Alert did not send notifications Saturday of either the shooting or the bomb threat.
Capt. Eric Grabski, a spokesman for the USC Department of Law Enforcement and Safety, said that the midday bomb threat didn't warrant a text message or email to students as it didn't pose an immediate threat once officers were on the scene, because the suspect was contained to the store.
"We knew right away there was no ongoing threat, and we knew there was no threat to the campus itself," Grabski said.
Timmons said that the incidents didn't indicate any heightened danger in Five Points.
Police have actually seen a decrease in crime in the area, Timmons said, adding that there would be greater police presence in the downtown entertainment district once classes at USC begin in August.
“Overall, things happen all across the city, across the state, across the country,” Timmons said. “This happens to be one area of the city where people choose to commit crimes. Once school is in, we’ll see a greater police presence in Five Points.”