THOUSAND OAKS : Explosive Removed From Liquor Store

After dealing with flat tires and a lost key, Ventura County’s bomb squad removed an explosive device Friday from a Thousand Oaks liquor store that recently has been targeted by vandals, officials said.

A 10-inch-long cylinder attached to the front door with duct tape was found at 7 a.m. by a clerk at North Oaks Market and Liquor store on Avenida de los Arboles.

For two hours the clerk left the eight-ounce cylinder on the front counter, unsure what to do with it. Store owner Mike Grear arrived at 9:15 a.m. and called the Sheriff’s Department.

Deputies arrived promptly, but another two hours passed before the effort to remove the device got under way.

As Grear stood anxiously in the parking lot, potential customers were turned away by the police tape surrounding the shop. The market and neighboring businesses in the strip mall remained closed as the bomb squad encountered a series of problems in their efforts to remove the cylinder.

First, the bomb removal truck, which carried the squad’s robot and removal container from Ventura, was delayed on the Ventura Freeway with a flat tire.

Then, when the truck arrived, the squad had to change two tires and cut the lock off a toolbox because the key was lost.

“It’s sickening that they are not prepared,” Grear said at noon, as the robot carried the 10-inch device out of the store. “Imagine if this was an emergency. They should be ready to go, not stopping to change tires before removing a bomb.”

Deputy Larry Bull of the bomb squad said the tire trouble was “just something that happens. We didn’t plan on it, but the important thing is we got here and removed the device.”

Sheriff’s deputies later learned the cylinder was an explosive. They said an investigation is under way.

Grear said he believed the incident was related to other acts of vandalism at his store, including windows being broken.