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Package explodes in St. Louis high rise

By: dmc-admin//October 20, 2008//

Package explodes in St. Louis high rise

By: dmc-admin//October 20, 2008//

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An apparent bomb exploded this morning in a parking garage in Clayton under a 16-story high rise that houses several law firms.

Steve Murphy, a partner at law firm Devereux Murphy, a tenant of the Plaza in Clayton, said in a phone interview he was getting out of his car in the garage when a man about 50 feet away said he had found a package in front of his car door.

As the man moved the package to get in his car, it exploded. “He’s injured,” said, Murphy. Murphy was not hurt.

Broadcast reports say the unidentified man is in critical condition.

The office building at 190 Carondelet was evacuated, and at 12:30 p.m., evacuees were told it would be at least three hours before they could return to the building.

The explosive was on level P6, said Joseph Devereux Jr., Murphy’s partner.

Devereux was on the 11th floor when the explosion occurred.

“We were just sitting in a conference room minding our own business,” Devereux said. “I didn’t expect to spend the day outside the Ritz looking at my office building.”

The building is home to many law firms, including Husch Blackwell Sanders, Devereux Murphy and Roach Law Office, as well as the accounting firm Ernst & Young.

Husch spokeswoman Susan Seilnacht, who works out of KC but was in the Clayton office at the time of the explosion, said in a phone interview this afternoon, “I was on the 12th floor. I didn’t feel or hear anything. But I did hear other people say they felt or heard something. We left the building about 11:15 so I probably happened right before that.

“People felt the blast in the building on different floors. The alarms went off and everybody left in an orderly fashion. The police kept pushing us further and further from the building.”

Husch has 179 attorneys working in the Clayton office.

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