'Cartoonish' Bomb-Labeled Hoax Briefly Shuts Down Freeway

It took a sheriff’s bomb squad about three hours to determine that a package left in an unincorporated area near Hawthorne was a hoax not an explosive device, authorities said Saturday.

The package was discovered at about 10:30 p.m. Friday near the intersection of Tahoe Avenue and 121st Street in the Del Aire area, said Lt. M. Modica of the South Los Angeles Sheriff’s Station.

“It turned out to be just bicycle parts, sprockets, chains, old cables, cartoonish in a sense,” Modica said.

A note attached to the package said it was a bomb, so it was taken seriously until the bomb squad determined it was a hoax, he said.

No evacuations were needed but the southbound San Diego (405) Freeway was shut down for about 10 minutes, said Deputy Ryan Rouzan of the Sheriff’s Information Bureau. The incident was cleared at 1:34 a.m.

--City News Service, photo via Shutterstock