DENVER—The Denver City and County Building was evacuated Thursday after a bomb threat, but it was reopened about two hours later after a search found nothing suspicious.
Someone called the sheriff’s office just after 8 a.m. and warned that a bomb was in the building or would be taken there soon, Denver County Sheriff’s Capt. Frank Gale said. The building, which includes courts, was evacuated at 8:30 a.m., forcing about 200 people outside in subfreezing temperatures.
“We’re used to cooling our heels, but not this cool,” said attorney Daniel Deters, who was waiting for a court hearing to begin when everyone was ordered out. He said once they got outside word spread that it had been a bomb threat, prompting speculation that the Times Square bombing in New York may have led Denver authorities to take the threat seriously.
About 30 people waited on two city buses called to the scene to provide shelter but most stood on the grass of Civic Center Park just across the street from the stately stone building, which is fronted by columns and a massive stairway. The sprawling, four-story structure houses courtrooms, City Council chambers, the mayor’s office and other city offices. Streets bordering the building were closed during the evacuation.
No one appeared panicked and there wasn’t a heavy police presence besides officers who were blocking traffic on the streets bordering the building.
Some trials were under way at the time of the evacuation and all judges and jurors were escorted safely from the building, state courts spokesman Robert McCallum said. He said the trials would resume after the evacuation.
Besides lawyers, the crowd included some people who had been scheduled to appear in court.
The evacuation was already under way when Jackie Garcia arrived for a traffic ticket hearing. She said she was afraid to leave because she didn’t want to get in trouble for not showing up. She telephoned her husband, who was watching their children, to let him know about the evacuation.
“I’m just trying to be patient,” Garcia said.
Another woman with a court date said she called her probation officer, who told her to wait for the building to be reopened so she wouldn’t miss her hearing.
“It’s just the way the world is today,” said the woman, who didn’t want to give her name.
Two young men holding clipboards also showed up to register people to vote. They worked for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now and said the group was trying to register 60,000 new voters in Colorado.
When the building was cleared to reopen, a few people rushed to lift up the police tape and ran across the street, prompting those farther back to follow. But they just had to wait some more on the other side to go through the metal detectors at the building’s entrances.
Denver spokeswoman Sue Cobb said it is not known when the last time the building was evacuated. A bomb had exploded hours earlier in New York’s Times Square and Denver is hosting the Democratic National Convention, but Cobb said authorities were not at a heightened alert.
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Associated Press Writer George Merritt contributed to this report.
