Bogus bomb

Police evacuated Hensill Hall after what appeared to be a pipe-bomb was discovered in a men's bathroom Tuesday morning.

The bomb turned out to be a fake.

According to Lt. Steve McLain of the University Police Department, an SF State electrician discovered the "bomb" (a pipe wrapped in a towel with the words "pipe-bomb" written on it) around 9:30 a.m. on a shelf over a bathroom sink.

Although it looked like a gag, McLain said, he determined the device had the potential to be real. He evacuated the building and called the SFPD bomb squad.

SFPD officers sent in the newest of their remote controlled robots to unwrap the package.

From outside the building, officers were able use the robot to pick up and maneuver the bomb without endangering themselves.

Police found the bomb to be only an empty galvanized steel pipe.

The evacuation took place minutes before the reading of the verdict in the O.J. Simpson trial.

Jeffery Carbonel, who had brought a miniature Casio television into his Biology 101 lab to watch the reading of the verdict, found himself surrounded outside the building by students and teachers who were suddenly without access to a TV after the evacuation.

"Everybody, people I don't know, just crowded around me," he said.

[ Golden Gater Online October 5, 1995 ]

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