Daily Trojan USC.edu

Costume causes bomb scare outside Superior

Parts of Hoover Street were blocked off as LAPD Bomb Squad investigated report of suspicious device.

Aaron Berry

Media Credit: Eric Wolfe | Daily Trojan A Los Angeles Police Department officer stands near a car that was reported to contain a suspicious device Monday.

The Los Angeles Police Department Bomb Squad was deployed to the University Village after two fake clusters of dynamite were found in a car Monday.

The fake explosives were found to be part of a suicide bomber Halloween costume belonging to an Army recruiter working at the shopping center.

Access to about 60 cars in the front parking lot of Superior Warehouse Grocers was closed off at about 1 p.m. as more than 10 officers and a bomb squad investigated a suspicious device in the back seat of a Pontiac G6, officials said. Closed metal gates locked several entrances to the University Village, caution tape covered the entrance to Payless Shoes during the investigation, and Hoover Street was blocked off between Jefferson Boulevard and 30th Street for about 20 minutes.

A 911 call at about 12:45 p.m. reported a suspicious object inside the vehicle in the middle of the parking lot, officials said. The initial officer responding to the scene called the bomb squad, which opened the car door with a slim jim after visually identifying the objects as fake explosives, said Detective J. Chu of the LAPD major crimes division. The majority of the parking lot remained closed for about an hour.

"In this day and age, if you look suspicious with wires sticking out of your backpack, first responders are taught to take a head shot," Chu said. "First responders have to take these things very seriously."

The devices in question were two clusters of red cardboard tubes attached to hemp string and covered in black tape - an apparent faux-dynamite accessory to the car owner's Halloween costume.

In a photo obtained by the Daily Trojan, the owner of the vehicle, whose identity was not released by LAPD, is seen wearing a suicide bomber costume at a party, with the two dynamite clusters strapped to his chest functioning as beer holders. Other costume accessories visible in both the backseat of the car and the photo included a loose, white and purple body-length garment and a scarf-like headdress.

"In my opinion, he was going a little strong with a Halloween costume that looked like a Muslim [terrorist]," Chu said.

Officers quickly realized the situation was no longer serious and went to Starbucks for Frappuccino. One officer said to another that, "Even if I had a fake plastic gun with my costume, I would still put it in the trunk [of my car]."

Another officer said, "Five years ago this wasn't a big issue - it was just a mistake."

LAPD Sgt. Ed Clark said he was upset so many resources were devoted to a look-alike prop for a Halloween costume.

"Use common sense and don't be stupid," he said. "Don't use [costume props] that appear dangerous and could cause a public commotion."

Most customers inside the University Village seemed unconcerned or unaware of the police activity.

Kevin McCorkle, an adjunct professor in the School of Theatre, was unable to park in the shopping center because of the commotion. McCorkle teaches a class in the University Village that was outside the caution tape. He planned to continue teaching as usual in spite of the bomb threat.

"I am always concerned for the safety of my students, but I will defer to the police in this situation and trust their parameters," he said.

Steve Guardado, who parked outside Superior while eating lunch, had to wait more than an hour to get back to work because the lot was shut down. He said he was not concerned for his safety.

"It's L.A., man," he said. "You see things like this left and right."

Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 4

Post a Comment

• Name: (required)
• Email: (required)
• NOTE: Email address will not be published
• Website:

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail

Email notify will not work because you are not currently logged in.
Click here to quickly login or create a free account.

Type your comment below (html not allowed)

  I am not posting spam. I understand posting spam or other comments that are unrelated to this article will cause my comment to be flagged for deletion and possibly cause my IP address to be permanently banned from this server.

Custom T-Shirts
Home Services Guides | USC Self Storage Discounts

Comments and Forum Posting Policy

Thank you for your interest and participation in the Daily Trojan comments and online forum system. To safeguard USC's Principles of Community while fostering a healthy campus dialogue, we require users to follow these basic posting guidelines:

Right to Delete Posts
Any postings that the Daily Trojan deems incongruent with its policies - including messages that are defamatory, obscene, abusive or in violation of copyright or trademark laws - are subject to editing or deletion. Although the Daily Trojan cannot reasonably expect to review every forum posting and is not responsible for any posted content, it reserves the right to monitor forums and remove posting privileges of users who violate these terms. All messages must be written in English.

Posting Rules
Comments, interactive areas, discussion boards, and the Daily Trojan Forums are intended to encourage public debate. We expect participants to differ ? judgment and opinion are subjective, and we encourage freedom of speech and a marketplace of ideas. But by using these areas of our website, you are participating in a community that is intended for all our users. Therefore, we reserve the right to remove any content posted on our site at any time for any reason.

Decisions as to whether content violates any Posting Rule will be made by the Daily Trojan at its sole discretion, after having received actual notice of such posting. Without limiting our right to remove content, we have attempted to provide guidelines to those posting content on our site. When using our website, please do not post material that:

• contains vulgar, profane, abusive or hateful language, epithets or slurs, text or illustrations in poor taste, inflammatory attacks of a personal, racial or religious nature, or expressions of bigotry, racism, discrimination or hate.
• is defamatory, threatening, disparaging, grossly inflammatory, false, misleading, deceptive, fraudulent, inaccurate, unfair, contains gross exaggeration or unsubstantiated claims, violates the privacy rights of any third party, is unreasonably harmful or offensive to any individual or community, contains any actionable statement, or tends to mislead or reflect unfairly on any other person, business or entity.
• violates any right of the Daily Trojan or any third party.
• discriminates on the grounds of race, religion, national origin, gender, age, marital status, sexual orientation or disability, or refers to such matters in any manner prohibited by law.
• violates any municipal, state or federal law, rule, regulation or ordinance, or attempts to encourage such an evasion or violation.
• unfairly interferes with any third party?s uninterrupted use of the Daily Trojan.
• advertises, promotes or offers to trade any goods or services, except in areas specifically designated for such purpose.
• uploads copyrighted or other proprietary material of any kind on our website without the express permission of the owner of that material.
• uses or attempts to use another?s account, password, service or system except as expressly permitted by the Terms of Service.
• includes images, photos, or articles or other content that constitutes, promotes or encourages illegal acts, violation of any right of any individual or entity, violation of any local, state, national or international law, rule, guideline or regulation, or otherwise creates liability.
• uploads or transmits viruses or other harmful, disruptive or destructive files.
• disrupts, interferes with, or otherwise harms or violates the security of our website, or any services, system resources, accounts, passwords, servers or networks connected to or accessible through our website or affiliated or linked sites.
• "flames" any individual or entity (e.g., sends repeated messages related to another user and/or makes derogatory or offensive comments about another individual), or repeats prior posting of the same message under multiple threads or subjects.

(Adapted from the Los Angeles Times Forums Policies with permission.)

Advertisements