Tower Bridge Reopens 7 Hours After Woman Makes Bomb Threat
WEST SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - West Sacramento Police found several suspicious devices inside the car that stopped traffic on the Tower Bridge Tuesday.
The devices are being investigated to determine if they are explosive.
The bridge is back open after being shut down for more than seven hours. The incident started around 3 p.m. on the West Sacramento side of the Tower Bridge.
A car was seen parked blocking lanes of traffic with its windows partially covered, and the female driver alerting police that she had a bomb.
"We established a perimeter, basically we stopped a two-three block perimeter, and we asked everyone to shelter in place," said West Sacramento Police Sgt. Roger Kinney.
As West Sacramento PD responded, a number of other agencies including Homeland Security rushed to the scene.
"The bridge was moved up at an effort to demobilize the driver so that car can't move," said Sgt Kinney.
One nearby resident who happened to be walking towards the bridge at the time couldn't believe what he saw next.
"I saw the driver get out of the front seat and walk towards the trunk. And then I saw some wires in her hand, she walked towards the gas tank and I saw her shoving the wires into her gas tank. That's when I grabbed my fiance and I said 'let's get out of here, something's going down,'" said Thomas Dodson.
Police confirm there were suspicious wires on the car. Dodson snapped photos of the woman who he says was also holding up a sign.
"A big white cardboard sign, didn't know what it said, but she was in the car by herself, holding the sign up moving it from side to side," he said.
What was written on the sign has not been released, but police closed the Tower Bridge in both directions and a shelter in place order was issued for the nearby Calstrs building and Raley field.
"They immediately pulled everybody back, shut down the bridge then shut down traffic from blocks away," said Dodson.
The woman was eventually taken into custody without incident, as investigators carefully canvassed the area.
"We don't know any of her motivation at this point, she's with our investigators," said Sgt Kinney.
Wednesday, the woman was identified as 58-year-old Sacramento resident Karen Jeffery. She was booked at Yolo County Jail and is facing a charge of making terrorist threats and another misdemeanor charge.