Explosive Device Detonated Near UCLA
Little Green Footballs
Meanwhile, in Westwood near UCLA:
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Explosive found at Midvale
A calm and quiet Westwood was briefly disrupted Friday afternoon when the Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad inspected and detonated an explosive device found within the Midvale Plaza apartment complex on the 500 block of Midvale Avenue.
After responding to a call made at 11:13 a.m., the bomb squad arrived at 527 Midvale Ave. to find “an improvised explosive device” in the building’s open-air courtyard, said Grace Brady, a spokeswoman for the LAPD.
No injuries were reported, but authorities have been slow to release details about the incident and the device.
Residents said they first heard a small explosion sometime between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m. Friday, but most said they went back to sleep. It was not until a resident found an explosive device later that morning that the police were called.
Police cars, FBI vehicles, ambulances, fire trucks and parking-enforcement vehicles blocked access to the street, and police officers restricted nearby pedestrian traffic while the bomb squad inspected the device. About 15 people waited at the corner of Midvale Avenue and Ophir Drive until they were allowed to return to their apartments near where the explosive was found.
Neither the apartment building nor nearby buildings were evacuated, but Paul Robi, a detective with the FBI bomb squad, said the squad executed “a moderate evacuation,” which amounted to telling residents to stay off their balconies and in their apartments. Curious onlookers who stepped onto their balconies said they were immediately told to go back into their apartments.
Shortly after 1 p.m., the bomb squad remotely detonated the device. A low boom was audible for about a one-block radius, and several people who live across the street said they felt their apartments shake.
Beau Gillman, a second-year business economics student who lives across the street, said he heard shouts of “fire in the hole” before he heard and felt the explosion.
About five minutes later, police reopened the street to vehicles and pedestrians.
Most of the residents interviewed said they were aware of the situation, but they did not feel afraid or threatened. Most were surprised that someone would put an explosive in a Westwood apartment building.
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(Hat tip: Ethel.)
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