BOMB SCARE EVACUATES PART OF DOWNTOWN L.A.

Byline: Lisa Van Proyen Daily News Staff Writer

In the largest evacuation in downtown Los Angeles' recent history, about 2,000 people were ordered to leave the area of the Federal Building, where a suspicious package was found Thursday and later deemed safe.

Police believed it was a bomb, closing off streets for four hours and bringing traffic to near gridlock. But it turned out to be a cellular phone, a source close to law enforcement said.

Officials with the LAPD would only describe the device as ``electronic equipment.''

``It's been a real nightmare because of the traffic,'' said Officer Don Cox of the Los Angeles Police Department, who himself struggled to work through the long crush of vehicles that clogged major arteries downtown for four hours.

Otherwise, the operation went smoothly as employees and visitors were evacuated from the Federal Building at Temple and Los Angeles streets, where workers in the basement mail room reported finding a suspicious package in the incoming mail about 12:30 p.m., said LAPD Lt. Anthony Alba.

The LAPD's bomb squad ordered a major evacuation, which included the Roybal Center and Federal Building, the Children's Museum and the Los Angeles Mall, Alba said. About 100 emergency personnel responded to the scene.

The Federal Building houses various government agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Police Chief Bernard C. Parks and Fire Chief William Bamattre both interrupted meetings with Mayor Richard Riordan and City Council members to brief Riordan on the incident - just a block away from City Hall.

The device was not determined to be safe until 4:30 p.m. - mostly because it took time to evacuate the large number of people from the high-rise buildings, said Alba, calling the operation the largest in more than 15 years.

Inmates at the Federal Detention Facility were moved from one side of the building to the side furthest away from the threat.

Police said the emergency was mostly orderly. Metrolink officials helped by offering evacuees who were forced from their offices without car keys free train rides home.

``It actually went pretty smoothly. . . . Everything was matter-of-factly done,'' Alba said.

The bomb squad used a ``remote opening device'' to delicately open the suspicious package, which was declared an unexplosive package, Alba said, without elaborating on why federal officials thought the ``moderate-sized'' package might have contained a bomb.

``As a result of the Unabomber and the Oklahoma bombing, they have their own systems of reviewing mail, and for some reason they thought this particular package was suspicious,'' Alba said.

Federal Building officials were not available for comment.

During the ordeal, traffic was detoured around an approximately 1-square-mile area bounded by Temple Avenue to the north, Alameda Street to the east, Third Street to the south and Los Angeles Street to the west, said Sgt. Larry Delgado of the LAPD's Central Traffic Division.

``It was very bad. It was headed almost to a gridlock situation,'' said Vince Corazza, who helped monitor traffic by changing the timing of street signals from the city's Department of Transportation base.

Traffic came to a standstill in the blocks around the Civic Center as mostly patient motorists waited to be directed to other streets or freeways around the building.

``Aaah,'' screamed Martha Garcia of West Covina, when asked how she was coping with the traffic. ``It's ridiculous, but it's better to be safe. Besides, what else can you do?

``And, when you work downtown, you expect traffic problems. It will just take a little longer to get home. You turn up the air conditioning and just wait.''

Daily News Staff Writers Rick Orlov and Patrick McGreevy contributed to this story.

CAPTION(S):

Map

Map: - Federal Building

- Area evacuated

Downtown Los Angeles