Suspicious packages

This is an excerpt from a police report of an explosion that officers responded to:

" ... Officers located both injured victims, a 44 year old female and her 59 year old husband. Ambulances transported the victims to a local hospital. Both victims sustained serious burn type injuries. The male victim advised the responding officers that upon walking out of their residence they saw a paper bag with their names on it next to their car. The female picked up the package and placed it in the car and they left their residence. They had driven approximately 1 block from the residence when the wife began to open the package, she set off some type of explosive device that severely burned both of them. the Regional Communications Center initiated a reverse 911 call to the neighborhood residents advising them of the incident. Approximately 20 homes in the immediate vicinity of the vehicle were evacuated as the threat or possibility of additional explosives was unknown. Approximately 8 hours later investigators were able to secure the area and vehicle ...."

There is an important lesson to be learned from this: We cannot assume that packages that we do not expect to receive are safe to open. We need to look at the bigger picture: Where is it located? what does it look like? Why is it here? Who could have put it there? What is a safe course of action? What does this mean for me? If there is any doubt at all about a package, it's better to leave it alone and dial 911 for help.