A Bomb Scare

Kathleen Kerr

September 13, 2001

A bomb scare late yesterday afternoon emptied for a time a Kew Gardens office building that houses the FBI, the Queens district attorney's office, JetBlue Airways and Newsday's Queens office.

About 4:30 p.m., police and the FBI evacuated the building at 80-02 Kew Gardens Rd. and quickly cordoned off the leafy residential block that borders the tall black glass structure.

People streamed into elevators and down emergency staircases as they scrambled to leave. They gathered on sidewalks as emergency vehicles with wailing sirens responded.

The building was reopened about 6 p.m., but most occupants did not return. An FBI agent in the lobby said he couldn't comment, as did a Queens police officer in the 102nd Precinct.

The FBI, the district attorney and JetBlue occupy several floors each in the building.

Meanwhile, a police officer in the 107th Precinct said rumors of a bomb scare at Queens College were "unfounded." And college spokesman Ron Cannava, reached at home last night, said he had received no reports during the day of a bomb scare. Classes were in session at the college last night.