Man charged when guns found in car after bomb scare in north Charlotte, police say

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Channel 9 cameras were rolling when police detonated a suspicious package overnight in north Charlotte.

Officers were called around 10:15 p.m. to Augusta Street, near Beatties Ford Road, for a report of a suspicious package in an empty car.

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Police evacuated several nearby homes as they investigated.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department posted video on its Twitter feed of bomb squad technicians using a robot to remove the package.

Sources tell Channel 9 that while the package wasn't real, it was made to look like an actual bomb. It even had some kind of external gauge.

As a result, officers didn't take any chances, using the robot to check it out and render it safe, which produced a loud boom.

That had some neighbors thinking a real bomb went off.

"When I heard that loud explosion it was very scary to me because we didn't know if it was real or what. It was very scary to me,” resident Lashakia Witherspoon said.

Officers said while the package wasn't an actual explosive device, they discovered two illegal guns in the car.

John Moore was arrested at the scene on suspicion of possession of a firearm by a felon.

Cox Media Group