Bomb Threats Close La Brea Tar Pits, LACMA

LOS ANGELES, CA —A bomb threat forced the evacuation of the La Brea Tar Pits Museum and Park facility Friday at the same the same time an unspecified security threat forced the closure of nearby Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

The threat was received about 10:45 a.m. to the facilities in the 5800 and 5900 blocks of Wilshire Boulevard, according to Los Angeles police Officer Tony Im, who said threat came in the form of "an automated voice recording" that warned of an explosion that was to occur at a specific time, reported to be 2 p.m.

That deadline passed. The Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad searched the property, and investigators were working to determine if the threat was credible, Im said.

About noon, the facilities said in a statement that it would be closed for the rest of the day as a precaution.

Moments after the Tar Pits closed, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced that it would close for the rest of the day, and all programming is canceled, due to an unspecified "security threat," according to a museum spokeswoman. She said the LAPD is on campus investigating the threat and working with the museum's security team.

Police concluded their investigation about 5 p.m., Im said. Both museums were set to reopen Saturday, officials said.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this reports.