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'Hoax Bomb' Charge Filed Against Man In Florida Airport Scare

A 39-year-old man has been accused of making and possessing a "hoax bomb" and making a false report about an explosive device following the scare that shut down Jacksonville (Fla.) International Airport for five hours on Tuesday.

Our colleagues from WJCT report that the man, Zeljko Causevic, "is a Jacksonville resident originally from Serbia."

A second man arrested by police during the incident has been charged with resisting arrest, the station adds, but "officials say the two arrests were not [directly] related." In their report, police state that Rivera "was trying to avoid officers" and became "very loud, nervy, loud [and] obscene."

Both men are due in court Wednesday afternoon.

WJCT writes that "Aviation Authority Police Lt. Mark Stevens says Causevic was going through security and told authorities he had a bomb. He was arrested at that time." In addition, according to an arrest report, "Causevic [later] described [a] device in his bag as 'a luggage scale.' He also had a remote control device he called a 'detonator.' He also told investigators [the] device was, 'supposed to be a bomb, but it's not.' "

The Florida Times-Union adds that, though the airport reopened at 11 p.m. ET Tuesday, travelers are still dealing with delays. More than 20 Wednesday morning departures had to be canceled. Airlines were juggling to get planes into the right places.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.
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