Suspicious Device Destroyed At Santa Clarita Protest: Cops

SANTA CLARITA, CA — Santa Clarita police have confirmed that a suspicious device placed at a Shell gas station on Valencia Boulevard and McBean Parkway did not contain any incendiary devices.

Around noon Thursday, the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station and the California Highway Patrol received reports of a safety hazard near a hundreds-strong protest march down Valencia Boulevard. According to a report in the Santa Clarita Valley Signal, California Highway Patrol officers on the scene asked protesters to step back as a precaution.

The Sheriff’s Arson and Explosive team were dispatched to investigate, and the intersection was cleared. At around 3:30, the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriffs tweeted that though the package did not contain and incendiary devices, it was “definitively designed to cause harm to others when tossed into crowd, etc.” The device was detonated, according to CBS News.

Re: suspicious device found near Shell gas station on Valencia Blvd/McBean- bomb squad determined it did not contain any incendiaries. Item was definitively designed to cause harm to others when tossed into crowd, etc. We're glad someone found it to keep protesters safe.
— SCV Sheriff (@SCVSHERIFF) June" class="redactor-linkify-object">https://twitter.com/SCVSHERIFF... 4, 2020

The sheriff’s station is not yet available to comment on the exact nature of the suspicious device.

Valencia Boulevard, between Magic Mountain Parkway and McBean Parkway, was closed on Wednesday for a large protest for racial justice. The protest was planned by Protect SCV, a group formed in response to the Black Lives Matter demonstrations.

In response to the protest, the nearby Whole Foods parking lot was closed, as were surrounding business parks. Five sheriff’s deputy patrol vehicles restricted access to the neighborhood, and two National Guard trucks waited outside of the Santa Clarita courthouse.

A large group gathered at around noon at the intersection of Valencia Boulevard and McBean Parkway, where they listened to speeches and knelt for eight minutes and 46 seconds, the amount of time that Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin had his knee over George Floyd’s neck. They repeated a similar action at around 3 p.m. in front of the Santa Clarita Courthouse on Valencia Boulevard.

“I’m fighting here for my grandson and for his future,” a Santa Clarita resident told CBS News while holding her three-year-old biracial grandson in her arms. “Everybody’s life should matter the same. Everybody should have the same rights, and I’m gonna raise him to not be racist, I’m gonna raise him the right way. Cause you’re not born with racism.”

As of 6 p.m. Wednesday, the Santa Clarita Sheriff’s Department said that around 50 protesters are still in the area, though most have dispersed, and Valencia Boulevard has been reopened to traffic. The city of Santa Clarita declared a 6 p.m. curfew Wednesday night in anticipation of Thursday’s protest, but the curfew has been canceled after Los Angeles County canceled its curfew early Thursday.