Police: Blast heard near LA Chabad center not a bomb

A piece of debris falling on the roof of a Chabad House in Santa Monica was initially thought to be a terror attack targeting the center.

By JORDANA HORN, JPOST CORRESPONDENT
Chabad House Santa Monica 311 (photo credit: Google Maps)
Chabad House Santa Monica 311
(photo credit: Google Maps)
NEW YORK – A piece of debris falling on the roof of a Chabad House in Santa Monica, California, a block away from a Reform temple, was initially thought to be a terror attack targeting the center.
There were no immediate reports of injuries, and approximately 100 people were evacuated from within a four-block radius.
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Police reported that some kind of device hit the roof of the Chabad House building and exploded at about 6:45 a.m.
As authorities worked to clear up the scene the explosion, the city’s police department announced that the blast which resulted in the evacuation of a four-block radius around the 1400 block of 17th Street was “not an intentional act.”
“There was no incendiary device,” said Santa Monica Police Department spokeswoman Lauralee Asch. “The explosion was due to a mechanical failure.”