An unexpected three hour long break yesterday.I thought it was because it was my birthday yesterday. Just kidding. No, it was my birthday I meant just kidding on thinking the break was because of my birthday.
Thankfully no bomb was found, no one was harmed, and the Crosswalk Coffeehouse across the street on the corner did a booming business as we waited.
Courthouse emptied for bomb scare
- Police and sheriff’s deputies evacuated the Comal County Courthouse complex Tuesday morning after an unknown person made a bomb threat but no explosives were found.
Employees, lawyers and others stood outside of the complex on the Main Plaza for about three hours while members of the sheriff’s office, NBPD and the San Antonio Police’s bomb squad searched the courthouse, annex building and Commissioners’ Court building, said Sgt. Tommy Ward with the sheriff’s office.
CCSO investigators received a call about the bomb threat at 8:47 a.m., Ward said, and cleared the scene at 11:33 a.m.
Investigators did not release details of the threat Tuesday, including who made the threat, how or what exactly was said. Ward said he did not know Tuesday who received the original message.
“Right now it is still an ongoing investigation,” Ward said.
Investigators received a call from an employee at First State Bank in the 400 block of the Main Plaza after they found a bag with electronics, thinking it may have been an explosive device, Ward said, but the bag’s contents turned out to be a false alarm.
Child Protective Services cases are often held on Tuesdays, but no CPS cases were set for yesterday in Judge Dib Waldrip’s court, said Geoff Barr, Comal County district attorney and confirmed by district clerk staff. District court had a jury trial to modify a prior order in the interest of a child.
There were six divorce hearings on the docket, including one contested case; an adoption case; a property dispute; a motion for a protective order; a breach of contract hearing and two other motions to modify temporary orders in the interest of two sets of separate children.
Investigators and the DA’s office made no link Tuesday between any of the cases on the docket and a potential bomb threat. Tuesday was also the last day for early voting for the May 8 election.
Family law cases, which are often set for Tuesdays, have the potential to become controversial because they are “so personal and emotional,” said David Pfeuffer, a New Braunfels lawyer who handles family law cases, noting past incidents of weapons being taken into courthouses because of family hearings.
“There are fights over children, and there really isn’t much that stops people from taking a weapon into a court room,” he said. “Family law is probably the most dangerous area of practice and people do crazy things sometimes.”
