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A CHP officer investigates one of two suspicious packages today near the north steps of the Capitol.
CHP officer Jarrod Lassila said no explosives were in the bag that was detonated, but the exact contents had not been determined. Offices on the north side of the Capitol were reopened about 12:30 p.m.
The detonation, which could be heard for several blocks surrounding the Capitol and filled the air with the smell of smoke, occurred after CHP officers used a robot to move one of the packages, a leather satchel with a piece of metal protruding from it, about 30 yards away from the L Street side of the building, to the base of a large redwood tree in Capitol Park. The satchel had been hanging from a statue about 20 feet from the entrance, according to CHP spokesperson Jaime Coffee. A passerby reported the packages to Capitol security shortly after 9 a.m.
Coffee said the other package had been determined to be just a plastic bag full of clothes. Tony Beard, chief sergeant at arms for the state Senate, said the plastic bag raised suspicions because it was found at the base of a monument to Gilbert Murray, a forester who was killed in 1995 by a bomb planted by the notorious Unabomber.
Ron Pane, chief sergeant at arms for the Assembly, said offices on the north side of the building were evacuated as a precautionary measure. The Assembly chamber was also ordered closed. Pane said that in addition to the Assembly members, who were meeting at the time, about 100 people, mostly employees in the Department of Finance, were moved out.
"It's better to have folks move and be safe," Pane said.
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