'Five strange minutes' while the PVD bomb squad inspected a package outside his front door

PROVIDENCE − What's it like when somebody discovers a possible bomb near your door?

Patrons and staff at the Providence Athenaeum found out Tuesday morning, and executive director Matt Burriesci described the "strange" moments in his weekly newsletter.

"Some of you may have heard that we had a bit of excitement at the library yesterday," Burriesci wrote. "Police discovered a suspicious package outside the courthouse. Suspecting a bomb, the authorities evacuated the courthouse, and our courtyard filled up with confused lawyers and jurors."

The package was discovered at the corner of Benefit and College streets, "so about as close as it gets to the Athenæum," he wrote.

About 10 people, patrons and staff, were inside the 186-year-old building, Burriesci said later in a telephone conversation. He estimated the suspected bomb was 100 feet from the building.

More: All clear given after suspicious package detonated at Licht Judicial Complex. What to know.

Burriesci went outside and asked one of the police officers whether Athenaeum patrons and staff should also evacuate.

"It seemed the situation was as new to him as it was to me," Burriesci wrote. "He looked at the library and assessed the situation."

" 'Big stone building,' " he said, thinking. " 'You know what, tell people to stay put. Close the doors, move to the rear of the building, and stay away from windows,' " Burriesci wrote."And so we walked about the library, telling patrons not to be alarmed, but something might explode, and if they would be ever-so-kind, would they please move to the reference area without delay," he wrote.

People inside the Athenaeum didn't seem alarmed, Burriesci said.

The police moved the courthouse crowd from the Athenaeum's courtyard toward the Brown University gates, he said.

"Eventually the police decided to conduct a " 'controlled detonation,' " Burriesci wrote. "This is when a bomb is placed on top of a suspected bomb and then deliberately exploded. It sounds like a plan my ten-year-old son might concoct. But somehow the bomb disposal squad can contain the blast and mitigate its effects.""The staff and patrons gathered in the reference area for five strange minutes until we heard a very large " 'BOOM!'"Then a police officer walked through the Athenaeum's rear entrance, according to Burriesci." 'All clear, folks!' ” he said. " 'It was just a suitcase filled with clothes.' "

"It felt a bit anticlimactic to return to our regular scheduled duties, but then I thought of the weight of having to decide what to do in that moment," Burriesci said. "The bomb squad did not know and could not know what was in that suitcase, and yet they put themselves at some risk to protect others. We should all be grateful for that courage. Everyone made the best decisions they could with the information they had. What more can people do?"

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Athenaeum director recounts 'five strange minutes' before 'Boom!"