Bomb Scare in Eureka

UPDATE 4:02 PM

Around eight Thursday morning, a suspicious device was found behind Johnson Automotive and Electric inside a trash bag. 

“We come here, we have a lot of transients and stuff like that, so we have to pick up a lot of trash,” said Chris Tomas, the General Manager of Johnson Automotive and Electric. “And so I have to go around the building, make sure everything’s cleaned up.  So this morning I went over there and I saw a little bag and it was about six flares taped up together and I was like, that’s kind of weird.”

Tomas initially thought this was a joke. He then asked his co-worker to check it out to decide what to do next. 

“I asked my production manager to come out there to verify,  and he was like, Yep, calling the police, so we called the police,” Tomas said. “They came out, they cordoned off everything  and they sent out the robot.”

Eureka Police Department (EPD) showed up after the 911 call and brought in the Humboldt County bomb squad. The “Explosive Ordinance Disposal” team used a robot to get close to the suspicious device and blow it up. 

An EPD news release said, it was built to look like a bomb, but they didn’t test if it was real before the bomb squad blew it up. Tomas had never seen anything like this before. 

“We do get a bunch of stuff,” Tomas said. “They do like leave clothes, different things out there, but nothing like this ever. It’s been like eight years that I’ve worked here.”

EPD said if you have any information about this to give them a call (707) 441-4044.

Report from 11 AM

A little after 8 a.m. on Thursday morning, Eureka Police were called to the corner of 14th and Short Streets for a suspicious device.

Officers took found a device that was built to resemble a bomb.

They closed several roads and called in the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Explosive Ordinance Disposal Team who then neutralized it.

An EPD news release says they were “unable to determine if it was an actual functional device.”

All streets are open as of 11:15 a.m.

If you have any information regarding this device, you’re asked to call Eureka Police.