Philly Police: All clear after bomb threat near the site of presidential vote counting

Police found no explosives or any other suspicious devices at the Fashion District after they searched the building Friday due to a bomb threat at the mall, which partially borders the Convention Center, where votes for the presidential election were being counted.

Police said K-9 officers had completed the search by 3 p.m. and found nothing inside the mall, which had long been called the Gallery before it reopened under a new name in 2019.

The investigation began earlier in the afternoon, when police said mall security received two calls from a person claiming “a bomb was going to go off in the Fashion District.” Police and security officers began forcing people to evacuate.

The mall spans several blocks along Market Street east of City Hall and near the Convention Center, where demonstrators had gathered on the street outside while election officials were still tallying votes.

As police investigated the possible threat, Commissioner Danielle Outlaw and District Attorney Larry Krasner held a news conference inside the Convention Center, at which Krasner said a separate crime nearby Thursday night — the arrest of two men carrying guns outside the vote counting — did not appear to have any connection to any larger effort to cause disruption.