UPDATE: Suspicious Device Turns Out To Be Large Firework

A suspicious package that was found in a mailbox at a home along Crestwood Drive turned out to be a large firework.

The Menomonee Falls Police Department shut down a nearly two block area around the home, and residents were urged to stay in the homes and remain in their basements. The Milwaukee County Sheriff's bomb was called in to remove the device.

We don't know at this point,” said Police Chief Anna Ruzinski when asked if it was a prank. “When you take a device like this and endanger an entire neighborhood, especially when it's found at a time when kids are coming home from school, that's something we don't want to tolerate.”

Ruzinksi said the tube had markings on it consistent with a Roman candle. It was cylindrical in shape and made of cardboard. The tube was about 6 to 8 inches long and about 2 inches in diameter.

Ruzinski said the investigation will continue to determine whether it was a prank, or there were criminal intentions.

A postal carrier saw the device in the mailbox at about 1:50 p.m. and  she contacted her supervisor and then the police. Police were on the scene within five minutes. The roads reamined blocked, and serveral police units continued the investigation for more than four hours. Ruzinksi gave the final update at about 5:15 p.m.

The firework was placed in the mailbox of a family who is not at home, and authorities don't know what that house was targeted, the chief added.

Ruzinski said no one was evacuated, but arrangements were made at a local child care center to supervise children who live in the blocked-off area.