Man Arrested After Downtown Bomb Scare
By Angela Williams
First Coast NewsJACKSONVILLE, FL -- Police say 34-year-old Yousseff Bouchlarhem claimed he had a bomb in his car, blocking off parts of downtown for hours Sunday.
Police say Bouchlarhem is of Moroccan decent. He is charged with false reports of planting a bomb or explosive and resisting an officer without violence.
He is expected to be arraigned Monday.
Crime scene tape roped off several city blocks forcing people to evacuate for their safety. The area of concentration was on Laura Street.
Lester McGriff says he was going to work when he saw a man acting hysterical in the streets.
"When I was coming down to work, I saw a dude come down Forsyth and Laura with no shirt on and no shoes. He was yelling something like he was going to blow up his car or something, and he was mumbling incoherently and had music playing," says McGriff.
In minutes, police responded to the scene. Sheriff John Rutherford says the Bouchlarhem's actions caused them to take the matter seriously.
"Apparently when he exited the vehicle he left the flashers on and Arabic music playing. He was saying some things in Arabic which one of our officers just by chance was able to translate, so we do know he was making threats about a bomb," says Sheriff Rutherford.
After a sweep of the area police say no bomb or weapons were found in the car. Nevertheless, with recent bomb threats and situations happening overseas, Rutherford says it’s their job to approach every situation with precaution.
"That clearly had an impact on the seriousness which we took this incident. Of course I can tell you even before the events in the United Kingdom just recently, if we had a situation with an individual like this saying these things openly we probably would have handled it the same way anyhow," says Rutherford.
” Of course I can tell you even before the events in the United Kingdom just recently, if we had a situation with an individual like this saying these things openly we probably would have handled it the same way anyhow,” says Rutherford. “
Well, that’s comforting....
Music? Well, then, I guess he's a moderate Muslim.
Oh, that was just the Call To Prayer