FBI says possible explosive device that forced Oakland evacuations was a hoax

" title="OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA ??? JANUARY 19: Alameda County Sheriff???s Office bomb squad members put the bomb suit on a fellow officer to investigate a possible explosive device found outside the federal building on Clay Street in downtown Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, January 19, 2022. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)"
" loading="" class="lazyload size-article_feature" data-sizes="auto" data-src="" src="https://www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/EBT-L-FEDBOMB-0120-7-2.jpg?w=525"/>

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA ??? JANUARY 19: Alameda County Sheriff???s Workplace bomb squad members put the bomb go well with on a fellow officer to research a doable explosive gadget discovered exterior the federal constructing on Clay Road in downtown Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, January 19, 2022. (Ray Chavez/Bay Space Information Group)

OAKLAND — A hoax explosive gadget discovered Wednesday exterior the federal constructing on Clay Road in downtown Oakland pressured the evacuations of quite a few buildings and the closure of a number of streets, authorities stated.

No accidents had been reported.

The gadget was discovered about 12:36 p.m. Wednesday exterior the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Constructing and U.S. Courthouse, 1301 Clay St.

An announcement from the Federal Bureau of Investigations’ San Francisco bureau stated the merchandise first seemed to be a bag dropped by an individual close to a flagpole in entrance of the constructing.

After a safety officer seemed on the bag and located its contents suspicious, “a number of different legislation enforcement companies deployed to the scene to evaluate and mitigate the menace, together with FBI San Francisco, the Federal Protecting Service, Oakland Police Division, and the Alameda County Sheriff’s Workplace,” the assertion stated partially.

The sheriff’s division stated in a social-media put up that its bomb squad had made the gadget secure round 5:30 p.m.

The FBI’s assertion added that the merchandise “seemed to be a hoax gadget designed to [elicit] a legislation enforcement response.”

“The FBI will proceed to observe all logical investigative leads associated to this incident,” the assertion stated. “To guard the integrity of the investigation, now we have no further data to offer right now.”

The incident prompted evacuations of the federal constructing and different buildings in a several-block space close to the scene, together with some in Metropolis Heart.

The Frank Ogawa Plaza Entrance on the twelfth Road BART Station was additionally closed however trains had been nonetheless working, officers stated. Clay Road and different streets within the space had been shut down as a precaution.

An officer from Homeland Safety, left, and a U.S. Coast Guard member with a Ok-9 transfer across the Federal Constructing the place a doable explosive gadget was discovered on the bottom of the flag pole on Clay Road in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022. (Ray Chavez/Bay Space Information Group) 

Legislation enforcement companies from totally different departments arrive on the federal constructing the place a doable explosive gadget was discovered on the bottom of the flag pole on Clay Road in downtown Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022. (Ray Chavez/Bay Space Information Group) 

An Alameda County Sheriff’s Workplace bomb squad member, third from left, will get helps to place the bomb go well with on to research a doable explosive gadget discovered exterior the federal constructing on Clay Road in downtown Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022. (Ray Chavez/Bay Space Information Group) 

Alameda County Sheriff’s Workplace bomb squad members and different legislation enfacement companies from totally different departments examine a doable explosive gadget discovered on the bottom of the flag pole exterior the federal constructing on Clay Road in downtown Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022. (Ray Chavez/Bay Space Information Group)