Investigation continues into bomb in West Chester

The bomb squad was called back to West Chester yesterday for another suspicious item found outside the same downtown parking garage where a deadly explosive was found on Monday.

This time, it was a false alarm - just a bag of clothing.

The call to authorities came at 4:25 p.m. from an unnamed woman who saw the bag and thought it looked suspicious in light of Monday's bomb scare. "We're asking citizens to be vigilant, and she did the right thing," West Chester Police Chief Scott L. Bohn said.

Investigators were working to identify the source of the explosive left Monday.

Bohn said a person wearing a black hooded sweatshirt with the hood up, a black baseball-style cap, and black pants, whose gender was unknown, ran from the parking garage after being seen by the attendant before the attendant called 911 on Monday morning. Bohn said the individual, whom investigators would like to talk to, might have run west on Chestnut Street.

The bomb, discovered by the Mosteller Garage attendant Monday at 7:25 a.m., prompted building evacuations and traffic detours that lasted until Monday evening. The garage, often used by jurors, is bounded by Walnut and Chestnut Streets and Prescott and Law Alleys.

John T. Hageman, a spokesman for the federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said components of the device were sent to an ATF lab, where technicians will reconstruct it to determine how it was designed to work as well as make an official determination that it was an explosive.

Officials at the scene said the device was capable of maiming or killing. Hageman said federal experts must confirm that.

Bohn said the device included protruding wires, a metal pipe, a container of unknown liquid, and a circuit board.

"I think it's apparent from looking . . . that this person's intention was to cause serious bodily harm," said Bohn.

Hageman said he did not believe an analysis of the device would be completed before next week. In the meantime, he said, ATF agents were working with West Chester police and Chester County detectives to conduct interviews in the neighborhood and obtain surveillance video from nearby stores.

"At least" 20 investigators worked at or near the scene yesterday, Bohn said.

Malcolm Johnstone, head of the West Chester Business Improvement District, said businesses seemed to take Monday's incident in stride.

"It really is business as usual today; nobody is feeling like this is ruining downtown," he said yesterday, before the second scare. "Maybe that's a testament to our social fabric, that we can weather these things."

People should be concerned and watchful "but not frightened," he said, adding that law-enforcement officials - from fire police who controlled traffic to federal agents who collected evidence - performed with efficiency and professionalism.

After yesterday's call came in, police cleared the area and dispatched the Montgomery County Bomb Squad to examine the bag. About 7 p.m., an investigator wearing a protective suit approached the object and X-rayed it.

Bohn said the bag, possibly left by a homeless person, contained clothing and was harmless.

West Chester Mayor Dick Yoder, who watched as a bomb expert in protective gear examined the bag before giving a thumbs-up sign, said he was impressed with the response of law enforcement, particularly since federal, state and local agencies were "all pulling the rope in the same direction."

Anyone with information is being asked to call West Chester police at 610-696-2700 or ATF at 1-888-283-2662 (ATF-BOMB).