Bomb threat involving LAPD car near Jewish temple deemed a hoax

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A bomb threat involving an LAPD patrol car parked near a Jewish temple in Koreatown was determined to be a hoax after several hours of investigation, police said.

‘We rendered the vehicle safe,’ LAPD Sgt. Rudy Lopez told KTLA-TV on Tuesday. ‘There is no device inside the vehicle.’

But LAPD brought out several resources to make sure. Two robots searched in and around the vehicle, at one point breaking out a back window and blowing the lock off the trunk to look inside. A specialized lift truck called a ‘bat cat’ also hoisted the cruiser into the air so one of the robots could examine its underbelly.

PHOTOS: Bomb threat involving LAPD squad car

The incident began early Tuesday when an unknown caller phoned in a threat to the Wilshire Boulevard Temple at 3663 Wilshire Blvd. Sgt. David Budek later said the threat ‘was taken care of’ and cleared.

But hours later, shortly before 8 a.m., LAPD received two more threats alleging a bomb was ‘in or around’ an LAPD car parked on Harvard Street between the temple and Our Lady of Angels church, authorities said.

Several streets along Wilshire Boulevard near South Hobart Boulevard and 6th Street were closed for hours as a bomb squad investigated.

Lopez told KTLA-TV the patrol car had been parked in the area for several days to deter crime.

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