Suspicious package near L.A. mayor’s home was suitcase with clothes

A suspicious package found Monday near the home of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti was merely a suitcase with clothes, authorities said.

The scene at the corner of 6th Street and Irving Boulevard -- mere feet from the Getty House, the mayor’s official residence -- was cleared of any threat about 7:15 p.m. by the Los Angeles Police Department’s bomb squad, Sgt. Karima Tahir told The Times.

Earlier, the mayor’s office confirmed that Garcetti was at City Hall and that no one was inside the residence.

Police received a call just before 5 p.m., reporting a suspicious package at the leafy Windsor Square intersection, according to Los Angeles police spokesman Officer Jack Richter.

Officers cordoned off an area of about 300 yards around the suitcase, and Richter cautioned, “If you can see [the package], you’re too close.”

LAPD tweeted that 6th Street and Irving, Wilshire and Plymouth boulevards were closed as a precaution. Police warned drivers to avoid the area “for at least the next few hours.”

The Getty House is the mayor’s official residence. Built in 1921, it was offered to the city in 1975 as a gift from the Getty Oil Co. Mayors have used it for decades to host special events.

Garcetti decided to move there with his wife, Amy Wakeland, and their daughter in November 2013, a few months after he took office. He later sold their Silver Lake home.

Times staff writer Peter Jamison contributed to this report.

For more breaking news, follow me @cmaiduc.