They were just suitcases. But so much more. They caused the police to close up streets in Park Slope for six hours on Monday while they investigated the possibility that there were explosives inside.

Those suitcases belonged to a homeless man who goes by the name Mr. G.. He is a familiar site with his white hair and his shopping cart filled with Key Food bags, bottles and cans. Local legend has it that he became homeless many years ago. Prior to that he lived in a rental apartment on Union Street. Then he lost his job and his life took a downward turn: he became homeless. 

An older woman on that block let him keep his belongings in the basement of her brownstone. She was an old friend, someone who knew him in better days. For years his belongings resided in her  basement. More recently, he brought empty suitcases downstairs.

Chloe, the daughter-in-law of that woman, wanted to clean the basement. She noticed that the suitcases were getting mildewed. She left a note on Monday July 3rd for Mr. G. It was something along the lines of: Please take your suitcases out of here by Friday.

Well, he did. He came by on Monday, sometime before 3 p.m., when no one was looking and put some of the suitcases on the street in front of the house where Chloe and her mother-in-law live. He may not have wanted to leave all of them in front of their house, so he carried them in his shopping cart and threw them out in garbage pails along Seventh Avenue.

On Monday afternoon, Chloe did some errands on Seventh Avenue. When she came back, she told her neighbor, Leah, that the police were closing off traffic on Seventh Avenue. There was a bomb scare.

Leah and Chloe watched their sons, who are playmates, play together. They watched as Union Street was closed off, as was 8th Avenue. There were many police officers on the streets.

Chloe took a walk and caught sight of one of the suitcases and a lamp. Those look like the suitcases Mr. G. removed from my basement, she thought to herself, she told Leah.

So Chloe told the police officer who seemed to be in charge. A little while later, more police and the FBI called on Chloe at her home to verify her story.

This happened sometime after 7:00 p.m. on Monday. After that, the police closed the investigation down.

Leah did see Mr. G. on Monday he was pushing a shopping cart and there was still a suitcase in it. She’s not sure if he knows, even now, what he set in motion.