LOS ANGELES : Part of City Hall Evacuated After False Bomb Scare

A suspicious package prompted the partial evacuation of City Hall and the closure of several adjacent streets for about 45 minutes Thursday afternoon. A man thought to have brought the package to the building was questioned by officers, but no bomb was found.

“About 2:45 p.m., a man about 35 years old walked into the city controller’s office with the package,” Lt. John Dunkin of the Los Angeles Police Department’s press relations office said. “He told them it was for the mayor’s office.”

Dunkin said that when employees in Controller Rick Tuttle’s office told the man they “didn’t deliver packages,” he carried the parcel across the 2nd floor hall to the office of Councilman Nate Holden.

“He put the package on the receptionist’s desk in Holden’s office and said it had to be delivered in 25 minutes,” Dunkin said. “He told them to call the Air Force.”

The lieutenant said the man, who left the package on the desk and wandered off, was detained moments later by City Hall security personnel.

The LAPD bomb squad was summoned, several floors of City Hall were evacuated and police sealed off portions of Spring, 1st and Main streets, creating a 45-minute traffic jam. Mayor Richard Reardon was among those who had to leave the offices. Police said the package was empty. The man being questioned was not immediately identified.