Balanced News Blog

A homemade bomb found in a Starbucks bathroom was defused by San Francisco police without incident Monday afternoon.

Authorities had “some pretty active leads” Monday evening, Police Sgt. Neville Gittens said, but at press time had made no arrests.

The bomb, which police said was made from a flashlight, caused officials to shut down traffic in a four-block radius around the coffeehouse at Van Ness Avenue and Bush Street after the device was found around 1:15 p.m. Police evacuated fewer than 100 people from the Starbucks, an adjacent sushi restaurant and the residents of an apartment complex above the stores.

Gittens said police received a call after a Starbucks employee found the suspicious device in the café’s bathroom.

“The police came out and agreed that it was suspicious in nature,” he said. “The bomb squad confirmed that it was an improvised explosive device, and they rendered it safe about 10 minutes after 2 [p.m.].”

Source: The San Francisco Examiner.