FBI Searches Vehicle In Nederland Bomb Investigation
BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) - The Boulder County Sheriff's Office was closed for a couple of hours Thursday morning for a vehicle sweep linked to an ongoing bomb investigation.
The FBI issued the all clear just before 10:30 a.m. after agents found nothing suspicious in the vehicle.
Agents searched a tan Ford Explorer parked in the sheriff's office parking lot after the vehicle's owner came forward with information about the IED found in Nederland outside the town police station on Tuesday.
Agents said they were acting in an abundance of caution. The FBI declined to comment on whether anything useful to the investigation was discovered during the sweep.
An FBI spokesperson said that agents were working around the clock to try and figure out who left the IED in front of the police department.
Employees and business owners back at work on Thursday said that the bomb incident had caused the entire shopping center to shut down for a day.
"Losing business for an entire day , especially for a big store like the B&F (Mountain Market) is very hard. You can't recoup that loss," said Barbara Hardt, the manager of the shopping center.
Hardt said that the IED had left some people feeling nervous.
"Why did this happen to us? It's a feeling of violation," Hardt said. "We're a tight-knit community. So to think that there could be someone within or outside of our community that came in and did this (is) pretty scary."
"Everybody is scratching their heads," said Keith Cabanis, who lives across the street from the Nederland Police Department.
Cabanis didn't know who would target the office.
"That had everybody concerned," Cabanis said. "It's definitely an antagonistic move toward the town marshal's office."
It was around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday when an employee brought in a backpack that was placed outside the Nederland Police Department.
"They initially brought it inside because they thought it was a piece of abandoned or lost property. When they looked inside the bag they identified items that were consistent with possibly and explosive device," said Nederland's Marshal Paul Carriall.
The Boulder County Bomb Squad and nearly a dozen other agencies responded.
The FBI released a statement, "Preliminary indications are that the improvised explosive device (IED) was active, but failed to detonate."
Around 1:30 Wednesday morning the bomb squad finally neutralized the bomb.
There is a security camera outside of the law enforcement office space, but so far there hasn't been any information released on a potential suspect.
A source told CBS News reporter Pat Milton that someone had apparently tried to trigger the IED possibly by a cellphone, and it failed to detonate.
The FBI is leading an investigation with assistance from the Nederland Police Department and the Boulder County Sheriff's Department.
The device has been sent to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia for analysis.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the FBI Denver Division at (303) 629-7171.
Melissa Garcia has been reporting for CBS4 News since March 2014. Find her bio here, follow her on Twitter @MelissaGarciaTV, or send your story idea to mkgarcia@cbs.com.
