Suspicious bags prompt separate security alerts
By: Will Reisman
Examiner Staff Writer
October 6, 2009
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| An empty suitcase prompted a bomb scare Tuesday at the State Building on McAllister Street. (AP file photo) |
SAN FRANCISCO — Police responded to two separate reports Tuesday of suspicious packages in The City, but both situations were defused without incident.
Tuesday’s incidents came on the heels of a security scare prompted by an an abandoned bag on a Muni bus at the Transbay Terminal last week.
The first report came in around 8:30 a.m., when a security guard noticed an unattended briefcase in the garage of the State Building on 350 McAllister St., according to California Highway Patrol Officer Shawn Chase. Police closed off surrounding streets and the San Francisco Police Department’s bomb squad X-rayed the bag, which turned out to be empty. The area was open back up the public at 11:30 a.m., Chase said. Buildings in the area were not evacuated.
Authorities were then called to the scene of another suspicious package after witnesses saw a man put a shopping bag in a newspaper rack at the intersection of Post and Kearny streets around 1 p.m.
Police shut down several city blocks and evacuated a number of buildings surrounding the area, and Muni buses were diverted. The threat was cleared at 2:20 p.m., according to Sgt. Wilfred Williams of the San Francisco Police Department.
On Sept. 28 streets were shut down streets around the Transbay Terminal in downtown San Francisco when a 5-Fulton Muni driver found an abandoned duffel bag on her bus around 10:45 a.m. Street closures snarled traffic in the downtown area and buildings in the area were evacuated.
The bag turned out to contain nothing more than women’s clothing, including a leather jacket, undergarments and leotards, according to the CHP.
wreisman@sfexaminer.com
Bay City News Service contributed to this report
