Boston Bomb Squad Blows Up Pressure Cooker

Bomb Squad Destroys Pressure Cooker On East Boston Street http://t.co/aukhKC3fxR pic.twitter.com/zc2AAP6Dbw

— WBZ | CBS Boston News (@wbz) March 11, 2014

A bomb squad destroyed an unattended pressure cooker in East Boston on Tuesday. Police were called to the location near an elementary school when the pressure cooker was discovered without an owner on the sidewalk.

After blowing up the pressure cooker, police confirmed that the device was empty. Though the cooker was not placed on school property, students were still put in “safe mode” as a precaution, according to authorities.

Terrorists used two pressure cookers as explosives during the 2013 Boston Marathon. “People are sensitive to this. We’ve had a lot of people go through a serious crisis this year with pressure cookers. It’s no joke. We don’t take it as a joke. We’ll never take it as a joke,” Boston Police Capt. Kelley McCormick told CBS local affiliate WBZ-TV.

[CBS Boston]

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Write to Eliana Dockterman at eliana.dockterman@time.com.