According to a Maplewood police detective at the scene in the 7400 block of Manchester Road Wednesday morning, a tenant of a business there thought she saw a ceiling tile move, so she called the police.
The detective said it’s a dropped ceiling so it couldn’t support a person. He said it maybe it was a rodent. Maplewood fire came with a ladder so they could inspect above the ceiling.
Update: Karen Smith, owner of the shop — Get the Word Out Vintage, Antiques, Global Goods — moving in at 7405 Manchester Road, said Wednesday afternoon that when she went in at around 9:15 a.m. she heard noises in the ceiling, and then two of the ceiling tiles moved six inches. She spoke toward them and they moved back. She said a rat or racoon could not move the tiles the way they moved.
Smith said police officers and the fire department spent about an hour in a thorough search and found nothing above the ceiling.
Smith plans to open the shop in June after she makes a buying trip to Africa. It’s a not-for-profit, with the money going to pay for kids in Kenya to go to school, and to help women there start small businesses.
