DEPTFORD

-- A bible mailed to a nursing student at the Gloucester County Community College caused the college to be evacuated and classes canceled in the evening when the package it arrived in was deemed suspicious, authorities explained Wednesday.

The package had been present at the school for several days prior to the incident on Wednesday, but was deemed suspicious as it traveled through different channels due to some Armenian writing or text on the outside of the box, according to authorities.

The package was transported by security personnel to a field several hundred yards away from the building and left on a golf cart while school officials awaited the arrival of authorities at approximately 12:12 p.m., authorities said.

The entrance to the school on Tanyard Road was shut down and initially just the gymnasium and day care center were evacuated as a precaution, but by 1:58 p.m., evening classes were canceled according to the school’s official Facebook page and students present at the school were being evacuated and directed to exit the grounds via a dirt road that traveled through the gardening area and onto Salina Road, authorities said.

The package and its contents were reviewed via x-ray methods by a bomb squad and given the all clear sometime before 3 p.m., though police communications indicated orders were coming over to reopen roads and entrances near the school around 2:18 p.m., according to authorities.

The matter was investigated by the Deptford Township Police Department, which was assisted by the Gloucester County Sheriff’s Department and Prosecutor’s Office.