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news
Suspicious package
leads to evacuation
By Michael Watanabe
Online Forty-Niner
A suspicious box
in the back of a car parked in Lot 3 next to Brotman Hall
prompted University Police to evacuate the building Tuesday
and call in the bomb squad of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's
Department.
"It may turn
out to be absolutely nothing," said Sgt. Jim Bisetti
of the Long Beach Police Department.
Officials received
a call Tuesday morning of a box that seemed to be covered
in the back of a car, Bisetti said. By inspecting the package
from the outside of the vehicle, officers could not determine
whether the package was a potential threat.
Since the status
of the box was undeterminable, University Police called in
the bomb squad, evacuated Brotman Hall and taped off Lot 3.
"We'd rather
be safe than sorry," said University Police Chief Jack
Pearson.
The bomb squad
arrived around 11:30 a.m., according to Toni Beron, assistant
vice president of public affairs.
"No bomb device
in the vehicle [was found] at all," Beron said. "It
was a false alarm."
Cal State Long
Beach has received several bomb threats over the years, the
latest occurring last spring at the University Library. The
case was eventually dismissed due to a lack of evidence.
Many threats were
made during the 1980s, according to a July 11 issue of the
Forty-Niner, but less were reported during the 1990s.
At the very peak
of the threats, in 1986, 12 threats were made in five weeks,
five of which were on the Engineering Building. No bombs were
found in any of those cases.
Though not officially
related to the airplane crashes on the East Coast, Nick Werner,
an undeclared junior, said this was a huge crisis for everyone.
"It's probably
like the whole nation's going to have this thing going on,"
he said.
Javier Guzman,
an employee at Brotman Hall, said he suspected the campus
threat was a "copy cat" type of situation.
"They're taking
off the fear" of the nation, he said.
Nevertheless, faculty,
students and staff members said they were glad police evacuated
the building.
"I think if
the possibility exists [of a bomb threat], it's the best thing
to do," said Michael Markoski, director of Information
Technology Services.
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