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Sheriffs Plant Dummy Explosives at Union Station, Loses Them, Evacuates Building
Do we need to say much more than that to give you a "ha!" and an "uhhhhh?" at the same time (now this should be the definition of interrobang)?
Supposedly, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's were in the midst of a training exercise that included this bag of dummy explosives. But someone who wasn't supposed to get to them, got to them first and stole it. Metro stopped the Gold and Red Lines before hitting the station and Union Station was evacuated.
By 1:30 p.m., everything was getting back to normal. We have a feeling the bag is being used as a pillow under the 6th Street Bridge.
Update: About an hour ago, the LA Times posted a little blurb that agreed with our hunch that the bag had been stolen.
Union Station was shut down briefly today after someone stole a Sheriff's Department briefcase containing materials for a training exercise. The stationed had reopened by about 2:30 p.m. but rail service was interrupted because of the closure. Streets around Union Station were blocked off, causing traffic congestion in the Chinatown area.
It's not clear when rail service will get back to normal.
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Sheriff's deputies had placed the suitcase in a public area of the historic downtown train station so that the dogs could practice searching for explosives. A man believed to be a transient walked off with the suitcase about noon. He was not found, despite a search that involved about 100 deputies, said Sheriff's Cmdr. Dan Finkelstein.
Photo by Zach Behrens for LAist
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