Suspicious ticking package at L.A. County building turns out to be box of clocks

If you’re going to send a package of clocks to a government building, maybe consider leaving out the batteries.

On Friday afternoon, someone discovered an unattended package on the third floor of the Los Angeles County Hall of Administration building addressed to an employee.

It was ticking.

The building was evacuated. Five K-9 unites with explosives-detecting dogs showed up. So did the LASD Arson Explosives Detail.

To determine its contents, investigators carefully X-rayed the suspicious box — and found it full of presents for retirees, including watches and clocks.

According to Los Angeles County spokesperson Brandon Dowling, this wasn’t the first bomb scare at the building,

“This has actually happened before,” Dowling told the Los Angeles Register. “The Sheriff’s Department is very good about getting people out of the building and out of the way so that they can do their job. We know the Sheriff’s Department knows how to handle it.”

“They had the street locked down within two minutes of having us outside the building,” he said.

In 2012, BET sent a promotional package to a news station. When the beeping package arrived, the stations had to evacuate, suspending live local broadcasting until the bomb squads could investigate. Inside the packages were alarm clocks promoting an upcoming late night talk show.

In Ontario, Oregon last December, a bomb squad arrived at an apartment complex after police spotted a suspicious device in one of the apartments. It was a novelty alarm clock, designed to look like a bomb.

Earlier this summer, Coors Light accidentally caused a bomb scare in Toronto in a promotional stunt gone wrong. As part of its summer campaign, the beer company had hidden silver briefcases across the city.

But nothing beats the suspicious package wrapped in foil found in Oklahoma City. A man walked into a police station with the unknown object he found on his lawn, causing panic. It didn’t take long for the bomb squad to determine that the foil-wrapped package contained a burrito.

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