101 Freeway reopens, no explosive found after bomb squad responds to downtown LA

The 101 Freeway reopened near downtown Los Angeles Monday evening after a bomb squad responded to the area for a possible explosive, which police later said turned out to be just a bag of coins.

Officers received a call at 3:15 p.m. about a possibly explosive device being found inside the building located at 300 North Los Angeles Street, leading to an evacuation of the federal government building, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Just before 6 p.m., LAPD said there was no suspicious device found.

For about an hour, from around 4:45 p.m. to 5:50 p.m., California Highway Patrol announced a closure of the nearby 101 Freeway in both directions, with traffic on the northbound side being being diverted to Alameda Street, which runs through the Little Tokyo area of downtown where the incident is. Meanwhile, the southbound 101 Freeway traffic was diverted to the 110 Freeway.

While the freeway has reopened, CHP said the Los Angeles Street exit off the southbound 101 remains closed as of 6 p.m.

No other details have been released by police.