As per a conversation with Fort Bragg Police Department Captain Thomas O’Neal, today the Ten Mile Branch of the Mendocino County Superior Court was closed and evacuated for approximately 45 minutes after a woman threw a bag inside the front entrance of the building telling security staff it had explosives inside.
Captain O’Neal said the suspect walked into the front entrance, told staff there was “fentanyl and explosives” in the bag, and then left the building.
A Fort Bragg Police officer decided to approach the bag, open it up, and confirmed that it did not have explosives inside.
Captain O’Neal explained there were two factors that influenced the officer’s decision to approach the bag: the suspect is a known transient suffering from mental illness and waiting for a bomb squad would be 5-6 hours because Mendocino County does not have any bomb sniffing dogs nor a bomb squad itself.
Captain O’Neal said Fort Bragg Police Department is currently attempting track down the suspect and suggested that tomorrow she would be booked in the Mendocino County Sheriff Office’s county jail for false bomb threats.
If she has confirmed mental illness why not make sure she got mental health care instead of jail which wont fix the issue.
Quality mental health care in Mendocino County is all but non existent.