Bomb Found in Tahoe Casino; Squad Disarms Device

A bomb was discovered between two slot machines at Harrah’s Tahoe early Saturday, but it was disarmed without incident, authorities said.

Douglas County sheriff’s deputies said the incident forced the evacuation of most of Harrah’s casino area for about two hours.

Deputies said they were pursuing “several significant leads” in the case but declined to discuss details. They also declined to discuss details about the explosive device.

But Sheriff’s Lt. Al Baumruck said the bomb did not appear to be part of an extortion attempt since no letters or phone calls were associated with it.

“We’re going right down the middle of the road on this,” Baumruck said. “We don’t know if it’s a kook, a terrorist or what.”

Although Harrah’s security has been beefed up since the start of the Persian Gulf War, there was no indication that the incident Saturday was related to the conflict, Harrah’s spokesman John Packer said.

Officials said a Harrah’s employee found the bomb at about 4 a.m. in a bucket near the main cashier cage in the middle of the casino.

Authorities locked the casino’s Highway 50 entrances and evacuated most of the casino area until the device was disarmed by a bomb squad at about 6 a.m. About 100 patrons were in the casino when the bomb was discovered, Packer said.