Police Take Man Into Custody for Alleged Bomb Threat

A man was in custody Wednesday after falsely claiming he had a bomb and threatening to set it off in Hollywood, police said.

The suspect, a man in his 40s, told a security guard outside a former Big Lots store in the 1300 block of Vine Street near Fountain Avenue around 10 p.m. Tuesday that he had a bomb in his briefcase and would detonate it, said Sgt. Raul Jovel of the Los Angeles Police Department's Hollywood Station.

"We cleared the area and called the bomb squad," he said, adding that the bomb disposal experts dismantled the briefcase using a robot and a water cannon. There were no explosives inside.

The drama unfolded in front of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study at 1313 Vine Street, according to a news camera crew.

The man was booked on suspicion of making a false bomb threat, Jovel said. His name was not immediately released.

— City News Service