Lido Beach reopens following removal of device

Update: A team from MacDill Air Force Base removed a potentially explosive device from North Lido Beach, prompting Sarasota Police to reopen the parking lot and adjacent beach. 

Previous: Sarasota Police have closed a portion of Lido Beach this morning after the discovery of a potentially explosive device near a trash can.

Experts from MacDill Air Force Base are on the way to determine how to dispose of the device, which Sarasota police said was likely some kind of military marker round.

Police have closed off the North Lido Beach parking area, near Polk Drive and Benjamin Franklin Drive, and the nearby beach “out of an abundance of caution,’’ a police statement said.

Members of the police Explosive Materials Unit identified the object and called in military personnel to dispose of the round safely.

According to the Sarasota County 911 call log, officers were sent to 100 John Ringling Blvd. at 6:51 a.m. on a suspicious incident call. Genevieve Judge, a spokeswoman for the Sarasota Police, said in a statement police hope to have the beach reopened around noon.