Package found on Newark Planned Parenthood steps was paperwork for employee there

A suspicious package found near the front doorstep of the Newark Planned Parenthood Monday morning turned out to contain paperwork for an employee of the nonprofit.

The package's appearance Monday morning caused a portion of East Delaware Avenue to be closed and apartments evacuated as authorities investigated it.

"The suspicious package has been cleared by the Delaware State Police [Explosive Ordnance Disposal] Unit," said Sgt. Gerald J. Bryda, a Newark Police spokesman. "The package was determined to have been addressed to an employee at that location and it contained a file with papers in it."

The package, a "manila kind of an extra large mailing envelope," was found about 9 a.m. near the front door of the building located in the 100 block of E. Delaware Avenue, said Ruth Lytle- Barnaby, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Delaware.

"It was kind of torn. It looked like it had been beaten up," Lytle- Barnaby said. "Which is not what our customary mail service or FedEx does."

Newark officers, which closed a portion of East Delaware Avenue for about three hours, have reopened it. People are being allowed to return to nearby apartments that had been evacuated.

On each side of the Delaware Avenue scene, residents of nearby apartments, such as Alex Paul, waited behind police tape to be allowed back in.

"We left for class and came back, but they wouldn't let us back into our apartment," Paul said. "It didn't seem that dangerous, but I'm glad they set up a big perimeter to make you feel safe."

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Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3.