Bomb Squad Determines Suspicious Bag Near Santa Barbara Airport Was Personal Items
Andrew Gillies
GOLETA, Calif. — A stretch of Hollister Avenue was shut down Monday morning after reports of a suspicious package near the Goleta City Hall, a private office building and across the street from the far end of the open space at the Santa Barbara Airport. It prompted a bomb squad response.
“It was a drab green color backpack kind of tactically looking and just kind of abandoned in the parking lot here,” said Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Raquel Zick.
At 12:13 p.m., the Sheriff’s Office said the package — pictured below — was determined to be a bag filled with personal items. All previously closed roadways have since reopened.
Courtesy of SB Sheriff
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office closed Hollister Avenue from Los Carneros Road to Aero Camino around 9:30 a.m. Deputies cordoned off the area and brought in a robot from the department’s bomb squad to investigate the package.
Officials did not say exactly where the package was found but confirmed it was located somewhere between Los Carneros and Aero Camino. Later in the day it was learned the backpack was in front of an office building. A skateboard was nearby.
The robot was used to safely examine the item, sending back video and images to investigators. The robot later opened it to reveal the contents that were not a risk to the public. Zick said, ” it looked like a bag that was either accidentally or intentionally ditched.”
Workers at a state office at the site could not comment except to say they were released and left for the day.
The city’s new temporary library site is also at this location and has not opened yet.
A nearby worker Matthew Devlin, who went off site to use his laptop said, “there was a green backpack at the front of the building and they quickly had a bunch of police cars there and we went in the opposite direction. I wasn’t too concerned but I wasn’t going to stick around to find out.”
Operations at the Santa Barbara Airport, located just south of Hollister Avenue, had not been impacted, according to the airport’s security office. An Alaska Airlines flight was observed taking off without delay during Your News Channel’s live coverage.
Businesses in the immediate area, including an auto shop and the Clean Air Express bus lot, continued to operate.
Another worker Ernesto Siles came back from relocating and said, “I am glad that the police officers have those resources and security because you never know you can’t take it for granted but what happened if it is not? “
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