Authorities have determined the "device that resembles a pipe bomb" found near the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse that prompted the hourslong evacuation of numerous downtown Oakland buildings was a hoax "designed to get our attention."
Alameda County Sheriff's Office Lt. Ray Kelly told KCBS Radio on Wednesday night that closed-off streets were in the process of reopening after his department's bomb squad rendered the device safe.
"We were able to determine, after a lot of diagnostics and work over here, that it was a hoax device designed to get our attention," Kelly told KCBS Radio's Jeff Bell and Patti Reising in an interview just after 5:35 p.m., "and that the person that left this specifically wanted this type of response from law enforcement. We're gonna ultimately be turning over this package to the FBI, and they'll do follow-up."
Kelly said his department's bomb-sniffing dogs would conduct another search "to make sure everything is OK" before reopening the multi-block area around the federal building.
Oakland police received reports a "suspicious individual dropped a suspicious item near the federal building" at around 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, authorities said. Kelly had told KCBS Radio the device resembled a pipe bomb.
An FBI spokesperson told reporters near the scene later Wednesday afternoon that the potential explosive was left in a shopping bag near a planter box at the base of a flagpole outside the federal building.
The Oakland Police Department tweeted at 2:07 p.m. that it had closed Clay Street between 11th and 16th streets, as well as Jefferson Street and Broadway, because of the device. The Alameda County Sheriff's Office bomb squad was on the scene. Twenty-two minutes prior, BART tweeted that the 12th Street Station's Frank Ogawa Plaza entrance was closed "until further notice."
Kelly told KCBS Radio in an earlier interview that the bomb squad wasn't initially sure of the device's nature, and it wouldn't be until after the explosive was safely disposed.
"What it preliminarily appears to be, it's a device that resembles a pipe bomb," Kelly said of the device just after 2:30 p.m.
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