Jun 27, 2008 10:11 am US/Pacific
Oakland BART Station Disrupted By Bomb Scare
OAKLAND (CBS 5 / KCBS / BCN / AP) ―
Officials closed the Oakland City Center/12th Street Bay Area Rapid Transit station Friday morning for nearly three hours following the discovery of a "suspicious" package.
The station was evacuated and two bomb squads called in after a backpack left on a train about 6:10 a.m. was found to contain a cylinder-shaped device wrapped in tape, according to BART spokesman Linton Johnson.
A passenger pointed out the unattended bag to a station agent. The agent then took the bag to BART police, who brought in two bomb-sniffing dogs and "both confirmed something was wrong," Johnson said.
Trains still ran through the station, but did not stop during the shutdown. BART officials advised people who usually used the 12th Street station, to use the 19th Street station instead during the morning commute.
The station reopened around 9 a.m. when the Alameda County Sheriff's Office Bomb Squad and University of California, Berkeley Bomb Squad determined that the backpack only contained hair care products.
BART officials said despite the scare, systemwide the trains continued running on time throughout the morning.
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