A calm and quiet Westwood was briefly disrupted Friday afternoon
when the Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad inspected and
detonated an explosive device found within the Midvale Plaza
apartment complex on the 500 block of Midvale Avenue.
After responding to a call made at 11:13 a.m., the bomb squad
arrived at 527 Midvale Ave. to find “an improvised explosive
device” in the building’s open-air courtyard, said
Grace Brady, a spokeswoman for the LAPD.
No injuries were reported, but authorities have been slow to
release details about the incident and the device.
Residents said they first heard a small explosion sometime
between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m. Friday, but most said they went back to
sleep. It was not until a resident found an explosive device later
that morning that the police were called.
Police cars, FBI vehicles, ambulances, fire trucks and
parking-enforcement vehicles blocked access to the street, and
police officers restricted nearby pedestrian traffic while the bomb
squad inspected the device. About 15 people waited at the corner of
Midvale Avenue and Ophir Drive until they were allowed to return to
their apartments near where the explosive was found.
Neither the apartment building nor nearby buildings were
evacuated, but Paul Robi, a detective with the FBI bomb squad, said
the squad executed “a moderate evacuation,” which
amounted to telling residents to stay off their balconies and in
their apartments. Curious onlookers who stepped onto their
balconies said they were immediately told to go back into their
apartments.
Shortly after 1 p.m., the bomb squad remotely detonated the
device. A low boom was audible for about a one-block radius, and
several people who live across the street said they felt their
apartments shake.
Beau Gillman, a second-year business economics student who lives
across the street, said he heard shouts of “fire in the
hole” before he heard and felt the explosion.
About five minutes later, police reopened the street to vehicles
and pedestrians.
Most of the residents interviewed said they were aware of the
situation, but they did not feel afraid or threatened. Most were
surprised that someone would put an explosive in a Westwood
apartment building.
Several residents said their apartments were briefly searched
after the incident, but they said the searches did not appear to
specifically target any residents. They also said it appeared to be
apartment management who conducted the searches, though Midvale
Plaza managers refused to comment.
Nancy Greenstein, director of the UCPD community services
division, said UCPD officers were not on the scene Friday, but they
routinely investigate suspicious packages. None of the recent calls
to the department have revealed actual explosive devices, she
said.
With reports from Adam Foxman and Sara Taylor, Bruin senior
staff.