Ten floors of a building in San Francisco's Financial District were evacuated Monday afternoon after a man caused a bomb scare by walking into a law firm with a suspicious device strapped to him, police said.
San Francisco police spokesman Sgt. Neville Gittens said a man in his 30s walked into a law office on the 30th floor of a building at 275 Battery St. around 12:40 p.m.
Witnesses said the man said he was angry because he had not been selected to appear on the TV game show, "The Price is Right."
The man had a white plastic device strapped to him and appeared to pose a threat, Gittens said. Police were called and took the man into custody. Floors 20-30 of the building were evacuated, and Battery Street was shut down while a police bomb squad was called in. Gittens did not specify which firm was allegedly threatened but the law firm Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann and Bernstein, LLP is located on the 30th floor of that building.
As of 2:30 p.m. the bomb squad was still inside the building, as was the suspect, Gittens said. The device had been detached from the man and police were working to determine whether it contained any explosives.
Meanwhile, hundreds of employees dressed in business attire formed a semicircle around the front entrance to the building, waiting to be let people back in.
Some chatted on their cell phones and others read the paper. An armed officer stood guard at the entrance, occasionally letting people exit but allowing no one to enter.