Golden West library briefly evacuated after report of bomb threat

Authorities briefly shut down the library at Golden West College in Huntington Beach Tuesday after staff there reported a possible bomb threat, police said.

Police evacuated the building after staff noticed someone in an online chat room say, “There’s a bomb in a book,” Huntington Beach police spokeswoman Officer Jennifer Marlatt said.

The library hosts the chat room for students to talk with instructors and librarians at the college, Marlatt said. It’s unclear if the threat came from someone logged in at the library or from off campus, according to police.

Police said they evacuated the building about 11:30 a.m., but a sweep by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department bomb squad and an explosives-sniffing dog turned up nothing suspicious.

The building was cleared and reopened around 1:30 p.m., according to authorities.

Detectives are investigating, starting with tracking down the IP address of the computer that sent the threat, Marlatt said.