Liquor May Have Led to Bomb Scare

One block of Ventura Boulevard was closed for about an hour Monday after authorities were told a package left at a Studio City office might be a bomb, Los Angeles police said.

The package left at the accounting firm of Brown, Leifer, Slatkin and Burns, in the 12400 block of Ventura Boulevard, turned out to be far from threatening, however. Bomb squad officers determined after destroying the package that it was probably a Christmas present--a bottle of liquor.

Police said the package was reported about 2 p.m. as possibly an explosive device because someone had telephoned the accountants’ office Monday morning saying a bomb had been left there.

An employee had found the package at the office door, police said. The block was then closed to traffic and area stores and offices were evacuated, Officer Don Lawrence said.

“We had to take precautions,” he said. “At that point we had to believe it was a bomb.”

After the block was reopened and officers left the area, another bomb threat was called in to the firm’s office Monday afternoon, police said. Officers searched the office and discovered no threatening devices.

A spokeswoman for the accounting firm declined to comment on the incident.