Bomb Threat Forces Evacuation

Police evacuated an apartment complex Sunday afternoon and arrested a man who threatened to bomb the building with a plastic bottle of liquid that turned out to contain only vinegar, police said.

About 75 tenants were evacuated from the complex in the 12100 block of Jentges Street for about an hour, police said. They remained outside while the sheriff’s bomb squad determined the bottle contained only vinegar, Sgt. Frank Hauptmann said.

Charles Lewis Gravatt Jr. 41, of San Bernardino was arrested and charged with terrorist threats and the use of false device. He was caught when he went back to the building to repeat his threats after police had returned the residents to their homes, police said.

“The person who did this was trying to frighten the people over there” by referring to the kind of bomb used in the Oklahoma City bombing last week that killed scores of people, Hauptmann said. “We got a lot of cooperation during the evacuation. People did make comments and you could hear them discuss” Oklahoma City, he said.