SFPD arrived at the parking lot of Safeway at 7th avenue and Cabrillo around 4:45on Friday afternoon after receiving a report of a suspicious package.
The intersection of 7th and Cabrillo was closed off to traffic, as well as blocks along Cabrillo and 7th Avenue leading up to the intersection. Residents in homes that faced the Safeway parking lot on 7th Avenue were advised to evacuate.
Around 6pm, a bomb-sniffing German Shepherd arrived on the scene and quickly determined that the package was not dangerous. After its handler walked the dog around to sniff remaining cars in the parking lot, the lot and surrounding intersections were re-opened.
The SFPD Bomb Squad was on the scene and described the package as a “military ordinance container” with “explosive markings” on it. The package was found to be empty.
Many Safeway shoppers on foot were turned away from the store during the closure, and some residents headed for nearby coffee shops to wait it out. But overall, neighbors were calm and understanding of the inconvenience.
“I was all ready to go home and start my laundry but I’ll guess I’ll just go walk up and down Geary for a bit,” one resident said.
Sarah B.
A bomb-sniffing dog inspects vehicles in the parking lot.
That dog is psyched he or she got to go to a grocery store.
Glad it turned out ok. Anyone know why it took over an hour for the dog to arrive? In a 7×7 city, that seems excessive?
@Susan, K-9 units are not stationed all over town in firehouses. Friday afternoon traffic on a holiday weekend is rough. We have only basic police and fire in our corner of SF, which is blocked by ocean to the west a large park, with few through roads to the south, a narrow bridge to the north, and incoming commute traffic on the west.
@JL, A well-trained (thousands of hours) service dog does not get psyched, especially around food. Same applies to horses.
@Susan Maybe the poor thing had to take MUNI
I want to thank the SFPD for coming so quickly, evacuating the store in an orderly fashion, and taking all the precautions to remove this threat. I was the one who found the black box labeled “ammunition” and “explosives”. It was so scary seeing that, while I had a baby in tow.
4th Gen – I didn’t think we “home based” a bomb dog in the Richmond… but if SFPD can’t figure out how to get across town in less then an hour – using sirens, etc….. that doesn’t seem like a very organized or public service oriented response! The dog wasn’t coming from Marin (at least according to the story), and I haven’t seen any other news articles about other bomb situations on Friday. I have to agree with Derek… perhaps they were on Muni!