Bank bomb threat shuts Coast Highway

Deepa Bharath

NEWPORT BEACH -- Closed streets, confused commuters and evacuated

employees were just some of the aftereffects of a bomb threat at a West

Coast Highway bank Tuesday afternoon that eventually turned out to be a

hoax.

Police said the chaotic incident began about 2:10 p.m., when a bank

robber held up Wells Fargo Bank in the 2700 block of West Coast Highway.

The man told tellers he had a bomb in a paper bag he was carrying, said

Newport Beach Police Lt. Doug Fletcher.

He then jumped over the counter and removed money from teller

stations, Fletcher said. There were 16 people, including employees and

customers, in the bank at the time of the robbery, he said.

The robber then took an unknown sum of money, ran to a white Chevrolet

Suburban parked in the lot outside and sped away, Fletcher said. Police

are still looking for the man.

Because of the bomb threat, police also shut the area bordered by West

Coast Highway on the south, Avon Drive on the north, Riverside Drive on

the west and Tustin Avenue on the east.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department’s bomb squad brought in a robot

to inspect the bank. A deputy wearing a bomb suit examined the bag.

“They found an electronic device in the bag,” Fletcher said. “But it

was not a bomb.”

He declined to further describe the electronic device. The FBI and

the Newport Beach Police Department are investigating the incident, he

said.

The robber is described as a white man in his 40s with short, dark

hair who is close to 6 feet tall. He is said to have been wearing a

long-sleeve shirt, a jacket, a dark color hat and dark color trousers.

Employees from the bank and from neighboring businesses were evacuated

from the building. They waited in the parking lot and on the sidewalk as

the bomb squad did its job.

Bank employees declined to talk about the incident. Tom Potts, manager

at the nearby Radio Shack, said he has never been in the middle of a bomb

threat.

“I’m shocked,” he said, as he waited outside the complex. “But I guess

this could happen anywhere.”

People driving into the area appeared startled by police barricades.

Some of the drivers rolled down their windows to tell officers they lived

in the area and had no way of getting to their homes. Police explained

that they would have to wait until the situation was resolved.

Lloyd Aubert said he had trouble getting to the post office on

Riverside Drive.

“I had to take some back roads,” he said. “But I got here.”

Vivian Rumble, manager of Starbucks, said she knew all along that it

was a hoax.

“It just didn’t seem very likely there would be a bomb in there,” she

said, smiling.

Rumble said she is disappointed she lost business because of the bomb

scare.

“But it’s always good to check it out,” she said. “I don’t think my

customers would want to be blown away for a Frappucino.”