Posted on 10/10/2005 2:13:03 PM PDT by .cnI redruM
An explosive device was detonated by the Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad outside of 527 Midvale Ave. on Friday afternoon.
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.
Several residents said their apartments were briefly searched after the incident, but they said the searches did not appear to specifically target any residents. They also said it appeared to be apartment management who conducted the searches, though Midvale Plaza managers refused to comment.
Nancy Greenstein, director of the UCPD community services division, said UCPD officers were not on the scene Friday, but they routinely investigate suspicious packages. None of the recent calls to the department have revealed actual explosive devices, she said.
One or the other, but not both...
Interesting. A bomb was found a few months ago on highway 41 (the road to Yosemite national park) in the middle of the road. Amazing how these things just happen to keep turning up isn't it?
It's sickening for sure. Maybe they don't wish to "scare people" but I think it's time for people to be made aware. An educated populace with a heightened sense of awareness could possibly stop further incidents from happening. I don't think the public at large would start getting hysterical. We didn't after 9/11 and we won't now...
Don't forget the 3 devices found in East Chicago, IN last weekend. It was in a car on I-94.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1498190/posts
"It's a coincidence, I tell you, A COINCIDENCE!!!"
~David Boren
LOL!! I can see that being his next deal!
Possibly four - I posted this on a different tread:
My wife is a graduate student at UCLA and has an apartment at Weyburn Terrace, about two blocks south of Midvale Plaza. Her apartment is across an alley from Warren Hall, which I understand is a biochemistry building. She called me about 1AM Monday morning, 10/03/05, in a panic. She was awakened by a load explosion that shook her bed and rattled the walls. She went outside to find a cloud of smoke and fumes drifting towards Weyburn Terrace. She found an eyewitness among the students from all the surrounding apartment buildings who had also come outside. The eyewitness said that he had been on his balcony, smoking, when he saw a bright flash that appeared to come either from the second story or the roof of Warren Hall. Upon the arrival of the fire department and the police department, my wife went back to her apartment because she didn't know what was in the fumes. According to my wife, after looking around a bit, the firemen and police ascertained that all was o.k. and they left. At 4AM a second explosion occurred. This time my wife just looked outside, saw the comotion and went back to sleep.
My wife checked the Daily Bruin the next day and found nothing concerning the explosions. We have since checked the internet several times and have found no information concerning the explosions. One would think that this would be newsworthy event, even if it were accidental.
Most of the signs are Persian and written in Farsi, not Arabic.
Definitely wanted to see this...thanks for the ping.
On the channel 11 new links that you posted, over on the right, there is also a link to a video of a suspicious device found at a QT (gas station) and was detonated by police. No details, but they said it was not overly dangerous, but intentional.
Ping.
It sort of seems like they are saying, "We're here and here and here and here." Small bombs left on soft targets leading to an end of Ramadan "celebration"? This is feeling like a game of cat & mouse.
"...but they said it was not overly dangerous, but intentional."
Okay Mr. Officer, since these little ol' things are harmless, would you mind holding it while I get help?
A common IED in Iraq is an explosive device made of a soft drink can which are called Pepsi Bombs by the troops. I imagine plastic bottles are just as easily rigged. Yes, they'll hurt you.
Now that is getting rather scary!
We need to "GRAB" any thing we see on the internet before it disappears...
May need to add some massive terabyte storage racks for the Freerepublic server.
Anything heard on your scanner?
Anyone record the audio off of scanners traffic?
"I'm coming up with a blank page... Another case of the Media being "shut down"? Guess they didn't do it quick enough in regards to the OU thing. Coincidently, I come up with a blank page for the original news story for the East Chicago incident as well. Then again, perhaps the story was on a temp page and just moved. I've run across that before as well."
It appears we have another example of why we must post the entire story or article on Free Republic before it disappears. (Grampa's Dave advise to all posters).
Post these articles and save them, not just the links, as they might just disappear.
I sure did forget about the explosive devices in IN. Are these incidents meant to distract us from a real terrorist attack?
OK, taking the tinfoil off....that seems like a very likely explanation for many incidents .
They tend to dispatch bombs and bomb threats very low key....via the computer in the patrol car, or in the computer in the fire station....and at that late hour, I doubt anyone would be monitoring tac channels and the UCLA PD.
Thanks!
The OU apparent suppression of information on the bombing outside the stadium has given many of us a case of deep suspicion of official sources and sudden disappearance of webpages on many websites.
The info on the scanners would be interesting .
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