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.
Daily Bruin article about the explosion is here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1500285/posts
Suspicion is right -- authorities telling me something isn't true is not holding water with me anymore especially here in Oklahoma the home of the Islamic ties cover-ups.
Where is Midvale? Nice to see an area in the title...
I used to run right past those apartments when I jogged the lap around campus.
you mean like "Hold Muh Beer"?????
"We need to "GRAB" any thing we see on the internet before it disappears..."
Problem is recalling any particular event out of what may become a large number over a period of time. Able Danger anyone?
OU and now UCLA...Kind of strange.
The explosions my wife heard were on the previous Monday morning.
The link you listed is a repost of the article on this thread. If I'm reading this correctly 18wheeler said the incident his wife experienced was on 10/3/05 - 8 days prior, and at a different apartment complex...
"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."
Very suspicious to say the least. Most disturbing is the lack of follow-through by the police on this...
You are correct. Perhaps I didn't make it clear. This was a different incident than "Midvale" and occured 2 blocks south and 4 days earlier.
Thanks for clearing up the confusion. Didn't realize there were two separate incidents.
Sure looks to me like some 'testing' is going on.
I would tend to agree that these are "tests". Perhaps, (at least in CA and OK) they are witnessing what our response will be.
Yes. They are playing little games with us, and they are also watching what the response is and how these events are handled, by both the authorities and the media.
That's why I don't believe the NYC subway threat was a hoax. Perhaps no actual attack was planned... but it served as an excellent opportunity to see how authorities responded and mobilized.
If the attack was planned after all, our response averted it, and now the informant is claiming hoax to save face.
Of course, there's yet another possibility. Now that everyone thinks it was a hoax, the attack could be carried out as soon as people are no longer vigilant. With Saddam's trial coming up, I don't think anyone should breathe easy just yet.
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
According to authorities the device found was 2 m80s taped together.
Here are the stories being run in the Bruin today:
Most not flustered by scare at apartment
http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/news/articles.asp?id=34409
2 m80s taped together...
Explosives examined
2 juveniles suspected in investigation of incident at Westwood apartment
http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/news/articles.asp?id=34439
My Question - wouldn't an average person be able to tell what an m80 was by looking at it? Why would they vacate that many people if it was just a firecracker (even an m80)?
Granted, this looks like a prank at this point (unless they are lying about what was found...). I'm very relieved to tell you the truth. The "pattern" has been disrupted so to speak...
However, the report 18wheeler gave earlier in the thread
( http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1500074/posts?page=67#67 ) about what his wife which happened just 2 blocks south of this event when she saw with smoke and fumes and heard 2 explosions gives more cause for concern at this point. The reports of those events are curiously absent from media.
See post #95 - updated info re: Midvale
How can he no longer be in custody? Did they release him?
Small Apartment Blasts Were Firecrackers
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
October 12, 2005
Two small explosions last week in a Midvale Plaza apartment complex were caused by M-80 firecrackers, Los Angeles police said Tuesday.
The first explosion, before 8 a.m. Friday, was the result of one of the large firecrackers going off in the 500 block of Midvale Avenue, said LAPD Officer April Harding.
The bomb squad responded after a second, unexploded device was found about 11 a.m. That firecracker was remotely detonated about two hours later, Harding said.
M-80s, often used to simulate fire by the military, have been known to maim. They are illegal to possess and have been classified as dangerous explosives.
LAPD Officer Sarah Faden said no arrests have been made in connection with the incident.
I thought it rather curious as well. If he was an informant maybe there was no reason to keep him in custody in the first place.
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