Metro Police closed off downtown streets, evacuated some businesses and put the Clark County Detention Center in lockdown after a "suspicious" briefcase containing possible explosives was found across the street from the jail on Thursday.
The Las Vegas Fire & Rescue bomb squad was called to the scene, and after examining and testing the briefcase, officials deemed that it was a false alarm, Metro spokesman Bill Cassell said.
"Somebody has to buy a new briefcase now," Cassell said. He said the case was filled with stationery supplies.
The briefcase was discovered around 11:30 a.m. when a bailiff at the jail saw it sitting in a planter across the street on Casino Center Boulevard near Bridger Avenue, Cassell said.
Metro then closed down several blocks of Casino Center and evacuated some small businesses or asked the owners to close their doors, he said.
One of those businesses was A Chapel by the Courthouse wedding chapel on the corner of Bridger Avenue and Casino Center, which was starting a wedding service when police closed down streets and asked them to close their door, said an employee there who declined to be identified.
The street closure also prevented the minister presiding over the wedding from attending the service on time, the employee said.
"The wedding isn't ruined -- it's delayed," the employee said after the streets were opened.
Several people in the wedding party, including the groom, declined to comment.
Around 1:30 p.m., as the bomb squad was working near the briefcase, an explosion was heard in the general area, setting off speculation among the crowd that had gathered around Carson Avenue and Casino Center that the bomb squad detonated the briefcase.
Metro opened up the street several minutes later, saying that the briefcase had been "rendered safe." Cassell could not confirm if the bomb squad destroyed the briefcase.
Las Vegas Fire & Rescue spokesman Tim Szymanski said the explosion heard at the scene was not the bomb squad detonating the briefcase but the sound of a diagnostic blast used to assess the briefcase.
The diagnostic blast -- which Szymanski equated to a shotgun shell -- is used to "shake up the device. It's a way to test the package."
Cassell said the owner of the briefcase has not come forward. He said the briefcase could have been stolen and ditched in the planter across from the jail, or someone may have absent-mindedly left it there.
Michelle Vazquez was attempting to get to the Dentention Center to post bail as the briefcase was being examined. She said she had been waiting more than 45 minutes to get through the closed off streets and was frustrated at having to wait so long.
"I live at Mount Charleston so I can't come back quickly," she said.
The briefcase incident comes a day after the bomb squad responded to a false alarm at a vehicle towing business on Western Avenue, Szymanski said. He said the bomb squad found a battery wrapped in plastic when they arrived at the business.
Metro also cordoned off the area in that incident, he said.
The bomb squad responds to an estimated 160 calls each year, he said. He could not cite how many calls actually involved explosives, but he said the "false alarm" calls are not the bulk of the cases.
Szymanski said the bomb squad in the past has responded to individuals finding suspicious objects such as decorative, non-threatening grenades when cleaning out their homes, pipe bombs found in mobile drug labs and people discovering fireworks.
He said the bomb squad must investigate every call in case one of the suspicious packages found contains an explosive.
"They assume every call they go to is the real thing," he said. "There is no complacency on the bomb squad.
The bomb squad is made up of 13 firefighters who are also certified peace officers in Nevada and are certified bomb technicians by the FBI.
Las Vegas' bomb squad responds to all calls in Southern Nevada as well as in areas of San Bernardino and Inyo counties in California and Mohave County, Ariz.
He could not immediately provide the budget for the bomb squad but said it was part of the fire department's operating budget. There are no additional fees or costs associated with responding to false calls.
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