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The LAPD responded to reports of a suspicious package at the Westfield Fashion Square in Sherman Oaks Sunday morning. According to CBS L.A., the police department's bomb squad reported to the "decoration area" of a Macy's department store around 7:40 a.m. when an employee spotted a ball covered in duct tape with wires protruding from it. There, NBC L.A. reports that the bomb squad examined the round, "ornament-sized" package on which "Stop Christmas" was written on the duct tape.
The mall (which was still closed to patrons at the time) was evacuated of store employees while the bomb squad examined the package for explosives. But, it was all a hoax. "There was no bomb," Sgt. Matthew Jacobik told the Daily News. “It was a fictitious device."
The mall, which was scheduled to open at 10 a.m., opened about half an hour late.