Shopping center evacuated after man found with knives

DICKSON CITY (AP) — Fears that a Pennsylvania man possessed an explosive prompted the closure of a major shopping center.

Police in Dickson City, outside Scranton, responded on Sunday after employees at a Target told them the man had been wandering around the store over the last three days.

Police found 52-year-old Troy Simon of Dunmore had two folding knives in his pockets and two knives in his backpack.

They tell the Scranton Times-Tribune Simon’s phone had a timer that was ticking down and that he initially ignored their requests to leave.

He was being held on $20,000 bail. It wasn’t immediately known if Simon faced criminal charges stemming from the shopping center incident.

Court records show he had previously been evicted from his home and his wife had been granted a protection-from-abuse order.