A suspicious bag believed to have been left on a bench forced the Torrance courthouse into lockdown early Wednesday, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department bomb squad was called to the scene.
Investigators have not officially confirmed whether the bag containing the liquid was a bomb or other explosive device, but a law enforcement source familiar with the situation told the Times: “It was intended to hurt someone. There is no doubt that it is.”
The person, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record, also said a video camera showed a man wearing a hoodie planting the bag with the note. Officials said the note did not list a clear motive, but indicated a desire to cause harm and included a claim that the man had “killed someone before.”
According to authorities, the incident began around 7:30 a.m. when the sheriff’s department responded to a call at the courthouse on Maple Avenue, a few hundred feet from the Torrance Police Department and Torrance City Hall. The courthouse was evacuated and Los Angeles Superior Court officials said in a news release that the building would remain closed for the day.
The department’s bomb squad and criminal investigation team arrived around 9 a.m. and focused their attention on an abandoned bag next to a large blue cooler on a bench in front of the building, officials said. It’s unclear what it was about the bag that aroused the suspicions.
Around 10:15 a.m., response teams “returned the bag to a safe condition,” the ministry said, but authorities did not say how.
Television footage showed a bomb disposal robot stalking the bag and poking at it until it exploded with a bright flash. The sheriff’s office did not say what was inside the bag or how it was released that caused the flash.
Initially, the Sheriff’s Office referred all further questions to the Torrance Police Department, which did not respond to requests for comment. Later that day, the sheriff’s department announced in a news release that the department’s Arson and Explosives Investigation Division, with assistance from the FBI, was conducting the investigation.
All cases on Wednesday’s court calendar will be rescheduled or transferred to other courts, and Los Angeles Superior Court officials said jurors participating in the trial will be notified of the date to proceed. Ta.
This may not be the first time an unidentified hooded man has left a suspicious bag in the Torrance area. At least one other bag was recovered at a different location several days ago, although it was not disclosed at the time, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the situation.
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