Rental truck may not have been linked to bomb threat

Jace Radke

Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2001 | 11:05 a.m.

Metro Police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms continue to investigate a bomb threat Monday night that led to the evacuation of a neighborhood.

Residents within a half mile of NOS Communications, 4440 E. Tropicana Ave., had to leave their homes for about nine hours as authorities investigated a stolen U-Haul truck parked near the business in a lot at Tropicana and U.S. 95.

Investigation has revealed that the truck was rented by someone using false identification at a U-Haul center on North Rancho Drive, police said.

B.J. Zapor, Las Vegas resident agent in charge of the ATF, said that at this point there doesn't seem to be a connection between the U-Haul and the bomb threat called into NOS.

The U-Haul became the focus of the search for explosives after an NOS security guard noticed it in the parking lot, and police determined that it was stolen. Bomb-sniffing dogs from Metro's K-9 unit reacted to something inside the truck, which ended up containing clothes and personal belongings.

Metro's four bomb dogs are trained to react to chemicals that are found in explosives, K-9 Lt. Kent Bitsko said.

"There is a wide variety of chemicals that they are trained to recognize," Bitsko said. "Dog senses work a whole lot differently from humans. To them the world is a smelly place."

Some of the chemicals the dogs are trained to recognize can be found in nonexplosive items. The dogs aren't infallible, although when they make a mistake it's usually the handler's fault, Bitsko said.

"We're working on trying to find out if that truck had been used to haul any explosives," Bitsko said of the U-Haul. "Maybe it hauled fireworks recently and the truck wasn't thoroughly washed out."

Trace amounts of one of the warning chemicals, even residue that is months old, can be picked up by the dogs, Bitsko said.

The dogs also ran checks through the NOS building and did not react to anything, Metro spokesman Lt. Marc Joseph said.

Joseph did not have an estimate on the number of Metro officers who responded to the incident, but he did say that it was a big enough situation that officers from nonpatrol units, such as the gang unit, were called out to boost manpower.

NOS released a statement saying workers returned Tuesday and are conducting business as usual.

"We are continuing to work in an efficient, professional manner," Marty Mazzara, NOS vice president of sales and marketing, said in a statement.