Fourth false bomb threat to occur over past year in Santa Monica
By Sam Catanzaro
Earlier this week a suspicious device was found on Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica, forcing authorities to call in a bomb squad unit and implement street closures in the area. Now the Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) has announced what the device was.
The device was found on the 1900 block of Wilshire Boulevard near the Walgreens late afternoon Tuesday during rush hour and street closures caused heavy congestion in the area as police rerouted traffic. At 5:15 p.m., the SMPD deemed that the device posed no threat to public safety.
According to SMPD Lieutenant Candice Cobarrubias, the device ended up being some batteries wrapped in electrical tape and that the Department does not know the motive behind why the device was left in public.
“We have no idea who left it and were unable to determine why they did it. In something like this, we take a picture of the device and send it to the [Los Angeles Sheriff’s Departmnet] Bomb Squad and they tell us if they feel it worthy of them coming out to investigate it further,” Cobarrubias said.
This the fourth time this year and the third time in recent months that a suspicious package has been found in Santa Monica. On February 28 a suspicious package was found near a house 2400 block of Arizona Avenue, just blocks away from where Tuesday’s incident occurred. On September 16 a pressure-cooker-like object was spotted in a trash container in front of the Urban Outfitters on the Third Street Promenade, closing down a portion of the shopping destination for several hours. On September 22, just a few days later, a suspicious package was found near the area of 4th Street and Santa Monica Boulevard.
