With the family out of town for the weekend, I was down on Sixth Street Friday night. Sometime after midnight, we heard a rumor that there had been a bomb threat at either Jackalope or La Cucaracha. The police apparently moved everyone out of that entire block and closed it down.
When we were booted out onto the street from Casino El Camino at 2am, we found an APD officer and a line of yellow tape stretching across Sixth. I was parked on Congress. Feigning ignorance, we asked the cop what had happened and whether or not we could get through. He told us to use the alley and that he couldn’t tell us what had happened. We trudged through the alley between 5th and 6th with the rest of the crowd, stunned at the number of people trying to whiz behind dumpsters. I know it happens, but you’d think the increased foot traffic would discourage the practice, not encourage it.
Is Austin a town of exhibitionists or what? And does anybody have anything more on this bomb threat? I checked News 8’s website, figuring them for the best chance of having a story and came up with nothing. Is APD intentionally keeping a lid on it?
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From the Austin American-Statesman, Sunday editiion…
Suspicious briefcase clears bars
Just as many bars were closing early Saturday, a suspicious briefcase spurred police to evacuate everyone within a one-block radius of Sixth Street between Trinity Street and San Jacinto Boulevard.
The briefcase on the sidewalk was reported to a police officer, police spokesman Kevin Buchman said. It was empty, he said.
“There was really nothing to this at all,” he said.
The incident began about 2 a.m. and lasted about 45 minutes, Buchman said. The bomb squad and downtown patrol officers investigated.
So much for the conspiracy theories…
Whenever there’s an event in progress, it should be possible to find out what it is by calling 3-1-1, the non-emergency APD dispatcher line. After an event, your friendly local police district rep can usually tell you something. Failing all else, when it comes to anything connected with the City of Austin or with Travis County, there’s nothing better than a PIR (public information request, formerly known as open records request).