This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Crime & Safety

Updated: Suspicious Package at Chase Bank Turns Out to Be False Alarm

Incident causes bank to be evacuated before closing time Friday, paralyzing downtown traffic for several hours.

An unknown person is believed to have left a suspicious package Friday after 5 p.m. inside the in downtown Los Gatos, which turned out to be a false alarm.

Los Gatos-Monte Sereno police officers, assisted by Santa Clara County fire personnel and sheriff's deputies set up a perimeter around the bank shutting down the corner of Los Gatos-Saratoga Road and North Santa Cruz Avenue for about three hours.

The perimeter was finally opened up to the public, but it had been completely closed off with heavy traffic being diverted for more than three hours.

Find out what's happening in Los Gatoswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Santa Clara County  Sheriff bomb squad and Santa Clara County Fire personnel were on scene to investigate the suspicious parcel, which turned out to not be a bomb threat.

Dennis Johnson, chief investigator for the , said authorities responded to the suspicious package inside the bank shortly after 5 p.m.

Find out what's happening in Los Gatoswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Johnson said they brought the county bomb squad experts, took an x ray of the package to determine its content and a robot retrieved it. It was determined not to be a real bomb threat, according to police on the scene.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.