Bomb Discovery Prompts Evacuation

East Commonwealth Avenue in Fullerton was evacuated of about 100 office workers Thursday morning after a pipe bomb was found.

The bomb was found on the second floor of the parking structure at the Fullerton Transportation Center by Officer Roy Ellison, who was on routine patrol about 9 a.m. at a lot on East Santa Fe Avenue.

He saw a plastic bag containing a yellow powder. A closer look at the bag revealed a three-quarter-inch PVC pipe capped on both ends with a wick, said Julie Kunze, spokeswoman for the Fullerton Fire Department.

Anaheim’s Hazardous Materials Team discovered the pipe was covered with ammonium sulfate, a component used in fertilizer.

The pipe bomb was capable of exploding, but the powder alone would not have triggered an explosion, said Sylvia Palmer Mudrick, a Fullerton spokeswoman.

The Orange County Bomb Squad used a robot to remove the bag containing the bomb from behind the police car, where Ellison and fire officials had left it. The robot photographed the bomb and then sliced it in half, rendering it safe.

The 300 block of East Commonwealth Avenue was evacuated at 10:45 a.m.

Fullerton Police Lt. Mike Maynard said he is not aware of any suspects in the case.

The bomb squad has responded to two pipe bomb incidents in Fullerton this year.