Robber Makes Getaway With a Bomb Threat

A building was evacuated and part of a street closed for more than two hours Monday after a bank robber put an envelope on a counter and told tellers it was a bomb.

The incident began about noon when a man in his early 30s walked into the Wells Fargo branch on Irvine Boulevard and displayed a handgun and the envelope. After taking money from tellers, the man showed them what he said was a detonator and threatened to blow up the building unless they waited an hour before calling police. He then fled with about $2,500.

Officers were contacted almost immediately, however, by an electronic security system. The Orange County sheriff’s bomb squad responded, bringing robots and X-ray machines. The envelope turned out to contain only a harmless powder, but the incident disrupted the neighborhood and blocked traffic.

“It was real-enough-looking so that we weren’t going to take any chances with it,” said Lt. Mike Shanahan, a spokesman for the Tustin Police Department.