A threatening-looking object that spurred an employee evacuation Monday afternoon in the East Hills Business Park ultimately was determined to be a paperweight, Lawrence police said.

Emergency crews responded to the Vangent Data Center in the business park on the east edge of Lawrence shortly before 6 p.m. after an employee opened a package containing what looked like an explosive device. Employees were evacuated.

“It was a paperweight that looked like an old hand grenade,” Lawrence Police Sgt. Damon Thomas said.

The package, originally sent by a person in California to a friend in Pennsylvania, had been mistakenly labeled and delivered to the Lawrence business. Thomas said police had contacted the sender and might simply throw away the object that caused such a ruckus.