The call on the scanner caught my attention right away. A Tracy police officer was describing a pair of items he found in the trunk of a car during a search. An explosive device with a fuse sticking out of it. I grabbed my camera and headed for the door.
A man was caught trying to pass a counterfeit check at the Wells Fargo on south Tracy Boulevard in the Red Maple Village shopping center. I arrived just as the crime scene tape started to go up. A lot of crime scene tape. The bank, surrounding businesses and vast majority of the parking lot were being sealed off as officers prepared for the worst, a blast from the car parked in front of the bank.
My shooting position wasn't the greatest but I found a decent spot to watch the car from behind the yellow line of tape. Most cars were evacuated from the lot, I had to move my car once when I was still considered parked in the blast wave zone. It became a matter of waiting for the county bomb squad to arrive and evaluate the contents in the trunk.
About an hour into the evacuation the bomb squad rolled up with their bomb removal cart, something looking more like a cement mixer than anything else. The bomb squad suited up into their flak vests and helmets and headed for the car.
The bomb squad examined he car, x-rayed the contents of the trunk and decided to remove the two items and take them south of town to the police firing range where they could be safely detonated. The bombs turned out to be smoke bombs used to test for leaks in pipes. Two guns including a loaded revolver and a ski mask were also found in the car as the crime scene unit began to investigate the contents of the car.
Nothing blew up which is a good thing but it was a long time standing in the parking lot waiting for some action to happen. It has been awhile since we have had a bomb scare like this in town and another in the odd string of spot news events that have happened around town the past two weeks.
