Hooters Hollywood Bomb Hoaxster Arrested

A man who claimed he had a bomb with him inside the Hooters restaurant on Hollywood Boulevard Thursday was just joking, but the man was arrested nonetheless.

The unidentified male suspect walked into the restaurant late Thursday afternoon and announced he had a bomb in his lunch pail, according to City News Service.

Employees and customers fled, and the Los Angeles Police Department was called to the scene. Officers arrived at around 4:45 p.m. and took the man into custody without incident.

A law enforcement source told L.A. Now the man told them: "I was just joking."

To facilitate the investigation, streets in the area were closed down for over three hours, causing traffic headaches.

Officers were still faced with the matter of the lunch pail, and called in the bomb squad to detonate the object as added precaution.

Bomb threats have abounded this week in Los Angeles, though none have proven to have been legitimate. Despite the seriousness of this week's events in Boston, hoaxsters continue to call in phony threats, and Angelenos opt to have some levity about the stories.