Bomb Threat Closes Sunset Monday

At approximately 10:30 on Monday morning, the First Federal Bank on Sunset Boulevard was evacuated following a bomb threat as part of an attempted bank robbery. An unknown suspect placed a note in the night deposit box stating that there was an explosive device somewhere within the bank. The note said that if a specific amount of money was not delivered to a designated location by a certain time, the suspect would detonate the explosives via remote control. The Los Angeles Police Department was called and set up a perimeter 100 yards around the bank and evacuated all businesses in the surrounding area, including Ralphs, Pharmaca, and Blockbuster. Sunset was blocked off between Swarthmore and Carey, and westbound traffic was diverted onto Chautauqua in an attempt to ease traffic congestion. The LAPD and FBI Bomb Squads responded, along with detectives from the Criminal Conspiracy Section, Robbery Homicide Division. At about 12:45 p.m., the units sent bomb-sniffing dogs into the bank. After an extensive search of the premises, no explosives were found. The police opened Sunset at about 1:30, and the bank was reopened for business shortly thereafter. The incident is currently being investigated by the FBI. Lieutenant Velez of the LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division said that the style of robbery was unusual and stated “I have not seen anything like this in the recent past.” Two other bomb scares occurred in the Los Angeles area within the space of a few hours. At roughly the same time as the First Federal threat, a suspicious backpack was reported and found in the 1200 block of Veteran Avenue just south of the Federal Building in Westwood. The bomb squad responded and took x-rays from a robot before neutralizing the situation. Also in Westwood, another suspicious backpack was found around 10900 on Wilshire Boulevard, causing another evacuation. In both cases, no explosives were found. The bomb threat at First Federal is the third incident to occur at the bank within the last year. On August 26 of last year, the bank was the victim of a takeover robbery involving three suspects. On May 26, a lone suspect robbed the bank. Noma Sazama, a visitor to the Palisades from North Dakota who was about to order lunch at Subway was evacuated when the police arrived. “It doesn’t surprise me,” Sazama said of the incident. “It’s always something out here in California.”