An ex-convict is being blamed for a bomb threat that shut down the federal office building near downtown for hours Wednesday. Federal employees were evacuated after the 12:30 p.m. bomb threat, officials said. Oklahoma City police blocked off nearby streets as bomb technicians worked to check a backpack left at the building and a car parked outside.
“This is a major disruption,” FBI spokesman Gary Johnson said. “It is affecting all of downtown.”
Police arrested Roderick Robinson, 30, of Oklahoma City at Walker Cos., a few blocks east of the federal building, about 30 minutes later.
The bomb threat shook up workers in an area devastated in April 1995 when a truck bomb exploded outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The office building evacuated Wednesday was built to replace the Murrah Building.
“It was unnerving,” said Sue Stephens, an office manager of the Walker Cos., where Robinson had used the phone.
The car and backpack were cleared, the FBI said about 10 p.m. No explosive devices were found.
The FBI alleges Robinson gave two threatening handwritten notes to a security guard at the entrance of the federal building. One note claimed a bomb was in the backpack and the other claimed a bomb was in a gray car outside, according to the FBI.
“Both notes said, basically, ‘Give me money’ and ‘You have five minutes,’” Johnson said. “There are some indications he may have written one or both of the notes outside the federal building prior to entering.”
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