Bombing in Atlanta Brings Out a Litter of Copycats in Southland

A bomb scare that forced a cruise ship to return to harbor for evacuation, a small bomb in Bell, an exploded mailbox in Rancho Palos Verdes--it was that kind of day for police Monday.

Chasing down bomb threats and investigating explosions keeps police busy every day. But police say their work always gets harder, the number of calls higher, after a high-profile act of terrorism like the bombing in Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park that killed two people and injuring more than 100.

A bomb threat forced a Carnival cruise ship, the Holiday, to return to the Port of Los Angeles and evacuate more than 2,300 people about 20 minutes after embarking for Ensenada.

The Holiday left port about 6 p.m. Shortly after, someone called port police to say two bombs were aboard, set to detonate in 30 minutes, said Julia Nagano, a port spokeswoman. The ship--still within port waters--returned to its mooring, and officials had its 1,846 passengers and approximately 500 crew members disembark.

Port police and Coast Guard officials searched the ship and declared it safe. Passengers were getting back aboard late Monday night and the cruise was expected to continue.

For the jittery residents of King Avenue in Bell, a small explosion Monday morning was enough to shatter their peace, force them out of their homes and leave them badly frightened.

“All of the sudden everybody is talking about bombs,” said Leo Cazares, 42, a postal worker who has lived in Bell for 10 years with his wife and three children. “Why? Why does this have to happen?”

Cazares heard what he thought was a gunshot shortly before 1 a.m. Later, police determined that it was a small homemade bomb.

Some local residents slept through the explosion, which police said caused no injuries and little damage. The bomb exploded in a walkway between homes on King Avenue. Police detonated a second bomb after evacuating residents.

That left just the memories of a frightening night, which Cazares and his neighbors said will not be easily forgotten.

“We’re all scared to death now with all these bombs everywhere,” said Maria Garcia, 36.

Monday afternoon, an “explosive device” blew up in a mailbox at a home in Rancho Palos Verdes, a Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman said.

The explosion occurred on Avenida Classica at 4:30 p.m., Deputy Angie Prewett said.

Detectives determined that it was caused by “an improvised explosive device,” Prewett said. No suspects were in custody in connection with the incident.

On any given day, Los Angeles County police agencies get four to five bomb calls. Unlike the incidents in Bell and Rancho Palos Verdes, most turn out to be false alarms.

The Los Angeles Police Department would not release numbers on how many bomb threats it has received since the Olympic Games began because it did not want to encourage anyone to make threats, said Cmdr. Tim McBride. But he said that the department’s bomb squad receives about 70 to 100 calls a month and that the number was up noticeably in recent days.

In answering the calls, police find themselves between terrorized local residents like Cazares and Garcia and what they say are pranksters, criminals and political radicals who use bombs.

Information on how to fashion a wide variety of bombs is available on the Internet to anyone with a phone line, a computer and a modem.

One Internet site Monday offered detailed instructions on how to make two types of dry-ice bombs and other bombs using household items.

The recipe for creating a dry-ice bomb closed with this commentary from an anonymous author: “It’s a cool visual type of effect. . . . You can totally freak people out.”

The vast majority of bomb threats, roughly two-thirds, turn out to be false alarms, but the department sends its bomb unit any time the threat seems credible, McBride said.

“Obviously, we err on the side of caution,” he added.

Federal officials said they have not seen a steep increase in the number of threats in recent days, but employees at the federal building in Westwood were evacuated last week in a bomb scare. That threat came before the Atlanta bombing, but after the suspicious crash of TWA Flight 800 off Long Island.

Each act of terrorism seems to send shock waves that reach local police. “The awareness heightens, calls seem to pick up for suspicious packages,” said Lt. Tom Spencer, of the sheriff’s bomb squad.

After one call Monday, an investigator was dispatched to an apartment in West Hollywood when the landlord reported finding what looked liked several sticks of dynamite attached to a digital clock. It turned out to be part of a gag gift left in the apartment by a tenant.

Deputy Ronald Ablott, a 14-year veteran of the bomb squad, was the first investigator sent out on the West Hollywood call. He said he didn’t mind.

“There are so many of them that you don’t really worry about the false alarms,” Ablott said. “You figure you go back and get ready for the next one.”

On another call, Lakewood deputies responded late Sunday night when someone reported what looked like a pipe bomb. After evacuating 16 homes near Monroe Elementary School, deputies learned early Monday morning that what had been reported as a bomb was a piece of hollow plastic used by children for T-ball, which had been wrapped on both ends by black tape.

Times staff writers David Colker, Duke Helfand, Jim Newton and Nicholas Riccardi contributed to this story.