Suspicious items found in downtown Fort Myers deemed safe by police

Police deemed a pair of suspicious items safe after finding them Tuesday morning and mounting an investigation in downtown Fort Myers near Centennial Park.

According to the Fort Myers Police Department, two different suspicious items found within 30 yards of each other led to the area of Edwards Drive and Heitman Street being blocked off from Bay Street to Monroe Street. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office bomb squad assisted in the investigation.

FMPD inspected the prankster’s work and determined the suspicious items were safe.

While deemed safe, the two suspicious items have left people in the area concerned. People who were on walks early Tuesday morning said one of those items was hanging from a tree and it was a life-size doll.

A Fort Myers police officer carried the doll away, which was found hanging from a tree.

It’s a mannequin with political language, including an antisemitic reference.

“It’s incomprehensible that people today would do something like that it’s horrible for the community. It’s horrible for the Jewish community. It’s horrible for our country,” Suzi Nadolski, who was walking in downtown Fort Myers said.

Members of the Southwest Florida Regional Bomb Squad, along with FMPD spent a lot of Tuesday morning responding to what was originally a suspicious package call.

They canvassed the area, climbed trees, and looked inside dumpsters near Edwards Drive and Heitman Street.

Ralph Woolam saw the commotion while riding his bike in the downtown area.

“It’s it’s a crazy world,” Woolam said. “Why would somebody why did things happen the way they do?”

Fort Myers police said the doll had a digital device attached to it with wires throughout resembling equipment that could be used for a bomb. But there was no explosive attached to the mannequin.

Police told WINK News they believe the suspect showed up around 1 a.m. and spent several hours in the area.

“I don’t even know how someone was able to do that not be seen,” Nadolski said.

“Whoever spent their time making this paper mache, whatever this is supposed to be and the flirting with disaster and more than likely they left DNA,” Woolam said.

Police aren’t talking about any of that, but detectives were able to find images with the car the suspect was driving. It looks like it’s a new Honda Pilot SUV and dark in color.

In one of the pictures, you can see the driver, who FMPD said looks like a man wearing glasses.

The investigation is still ongoing.