Device found in car leads to evacuation

Several Newport Beach businesses were evacuated Thursday morning after mechanics for a rental car business found what appeared to be a bomb under a car hood.

Police said they received a call about 11 a.m. from Vanguard Car Rental USA, 4361 Birch St., where mechanics who were looking into a “knock” sound a customer had reported with their car found what looked like a pipe bomb next to the engine.

Officers responded and called in the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Bomb Squad, who determined the device was inactive and let workers return to their jobs.

The customer told employees at the Enterprise Rent-A-Car at John Wayne Airport about the sound the car was making.

After the car was returned, the company sent it to its mechanics at the Vanguard Car Rental business, where the device was found, police said.

It does not appear the person who returned the car was linked to the device, police said.

Officers are investigating how the object got there.

— Joseph Serna