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.
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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.
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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.