This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The Federal Building in downtown Salt Lake City was briefly evacuated Thursday after a man tried to enter with a suspected explosive device.
The Wallace F. Bennett Building, 125 S. State St., was evacuated at 12:24 p.m. Thursday after a metal detector and X-ray scanner detected the device, said Robert Sperling, director of communications for the Federal Protective Service.
Sperling said that the device was "suspect enough" that the Salt Lake City police bomb squad was called and the building evacuated.
By 1:30 p.m., the threat had been cleared, according to SLCPD Detective Veronica Montoya.
Montoya said the bomb squad did "take custody of an explosive device" that was to be disposed of, but she declined to elaborate further.
Sperling would only confirm that police "took custody of a device," declining to say if there was an explosive component.
He said the man was being interviewed by the Federal Protective Service and Salt Lake City police.
Sperling said he did not know if the man — described as a white male — had said anything about what he intended to do once he gained access to the building, where more than 600 employees in 24 federal agencies work.