Police investigated reports of a suspicious device left at the door of a church in University Heights Saturday morning.
According to police, the device was discovered in front of New Vision Christian Fellowship located at 4353 Park Blvd. at around 11:30 a.m.
At 12:20 p.m., officials were investigating and the device had not yet been detonated. Police temporarily closed down Park Blvd. through Meade Avenue and Georgia Street while they determined the nature of the device.
Bomb squad units responded to assist.
A member of New Vision Christian Fellowship told NBC 7 that he saw an unknown cardboard box on the church's front steps and told a pastor that it looked suspicious. The pastor then alerted police.
By 2:30 p.m., bomb squad officials had detonated the box and deemed it harmless.
Battalion Chief John Fisher told NBC 7 the box was full of paper and other "religious material."
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Hair salon employee Christa Cascolan, who works right next door to the church, said the entire ordeal was pretty frightening. She was placed into a secure building while officials detonated the device.
“It was scary and it was nothing like I’ve ever seen. It was just a big pop and it was fast and over very quickly,” Cascolan told NBC 7.
SDPD investigators are now trying to determine who might have left the unmarked box on the church's steps.
