Threat of bomb stirs City Hall

Thursday, Jan. 20, 2000 | 11:37 a.m.

Shortly after the Las Vegas City Council convened its morning meeting Wednesday, city marshals began assembling en masse at the rear of the council chambers with a frazzled look about them.

Twenty minutes later the cause of their scrambling to and fro was revealed by City Manager Virginia Valentine, who asked the council to recess because of a bomb threat.

An unidentified caller had reportedly phoned in a threat saying a bomb was located in a package somewhere on the premises. As marshals and Metro Police searched the adjacent media room and other smaller areas off the chambers, the caller reportedly phoned again to say, "Your time is running out."

Evacuation order sent more than 100 staff and residents calmly walking toward the exits as television crews broadcast the drama live.

Rumors jokingly circulated through the crowd mingling outside City Hall that any number of subjects facing the council's scrutiny that day could have been the source of the threat.

"Southwest Ambulance or Silver State?" one staffer joked.

After the source of the threat was determined to be a hoax -- about 20 minutes later -- the meeting reconvened with an angry Mayor Oscar Goodman proclaiming, "It's a shame it takes some kind of deranged idiot to disrupt the city's business."