WAFB Channel 9, Baton Rouge, LA |Bank bomb scare in Livonia leads to evacuation

Bank bomb scare in Livonia leads to evacuation

By Keitha Nelson - bio | email

LIVONIA, LA (WAFB) - A bank in Livonia received a threatening phone call Wednesday afternoon claiming a bomb was inside, forcing the evacuation of homes, businesses, and one high school.

Livonia police say the call came in to the Guaranty Bank on Highway 78 at about 2:00 afternoon. Moments later police cars, deputy cruisers, and fire trucks swarmed a half-mile stretch along the roadway. Police say the caller told a bank teller the bomb could go off at any minute. The bank was quickly cleared out.

"Officers sealed the area within minutes and evacuated within the first ten minutes," said Police Chief Brad Joffrion. "Everyone was out of the hot zone." The "hot zone" stretched from Highway 190 to Bridge Road. It included Livonia High School, several businesses, and homes. The entire area was cleared out and blocked off for hours. The state police bomb squad and an FBI bomb tech were called out to the scene. Police dogs sniffed out the bank, but didn't find anything. "In today's society, we're living in you never know," Joffrion said.

This was the second day this week that a bank in the Baton Rouge area received a bomb threat. The first happened Monday night at the Capital One on O'Neal Lane in Baton Rouge. East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff's deputies detonated a bank bag said to have explosives on it.

Chief Joffrion says he's working with Baton Rouge law enforcement officials to find out if the two incidents are somehow connected. No one was hurt during Wednesday's scare, but people who live in the area say it shook them up. If you have any information about either incident, call Crime Stoppers at 344-7867.

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