'Pipe Bomb' Turns Out To Be Harmless Object

SAN MARCOS, Calif. -- Authorities Friday investigated the discovery of an object resembling a pipe bomb on a busy San Marcos street.

The discovery of the silver-colored tube around 3 p.m. Thursday prompted law enforcement officials to shut down the 1600 block of South Twin Oaks Valley Road for nearly two hours until a bomb squad determined the item was harmless, said Sgt. Everard Dayrit of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.

Deputies blocked off a nearly mile-long stretch of the street between Craven Road and Village Drive and called in the sheriff's bomb squad.

Shortly before 5 p.m., bomb squad deputies used a remote device to blow open the cylinder, which turned out to contain paperwork, Dayrit said. All traffic lanes in the area were reopened.

The paperwork appeared to be from a local company, Dayrit said.

The discovery of the cylinder marked the fourth bomb-related incident in San Diego County since the weekend.

In the first and most serious incident, a powerful pipe bomb exploded at the downtown San Diego federal courthouse around 1:40 a.m. Sunday. No one was injured but two buildings were damaged. The FBI is investigating whether the explosion was related to a non-injury pipe bomb blast at a Federal Express office in the Webster area late last month.

On Tuesday morning, a suspicious object was found at a traffic court complex in Kearny Mesa, but it turned out to be a flashlight.

On Wednesday, a 12-year-old boy allegedly set off a homemade bottle bomb in a trash can at Wangenheim Middle School in Mira Mesa. No one was hurt, but the school was placed on lockdown for more than two hours.