Suspect in bomb threats on San Luis Obispo bus is in custody
UPDATE 3:20 p.m.: The San Luis Obispo Unified School District is using school buses to pick up middle and high school students affected by the SLO Transit shutdown. Students from SLO High School who use city bus services are being picked up by buses at the normal bus stop and buses are being made available for about 50 students from Laguna Middle School and Pacific Beach High School to be picked up at about 4 p.m., according to district Buildings, Grounds and Transportation Manager Anthony Palazzo.
More information has also come out about how the suspect was identified. According to KSBY-TV President and General Manager Kathleen Choal, reporter Charlie Misra was conducting interviews on the Cal Poly campus when suspect Karr approached him. As Misra started the interview, Choal said, Karr admitted to being the person who made the statements videotaped by cell phone on the bus.
She said Misra calmnly wrapped up the interview before quietly calling police and pointing out Karr. Their footage of the interview will air at 5 p.m.
UPDATE 2:10 p.m.: Police have identified the person taken into custody as Marcus Henry Karr, 33 years old.
UPDATE 1:30 p.m.: A person police believe is the man who made Wednesday’s bomb threats is in custody and being questioned after walking up to a person on the Cal Poly campus and identifying himself as the one authorities were looking for, according to San Luis Obispo police Cpt. Chris Staley.
The man was taken into custody by University Police, who notified San Luis Obispo police. Staley said the bus passenger who took a video of the man positively identified him as the suspect. His name has not yet been released.
UPDATE 12 p.m.: Police are describing the suspect from Wednesday morning’s bomb threats as a white male adult in his 20s with brown hair, glasses and a short beard. He is approximately 6 feet tall with a thin build. He was last seen walking north on campus after getting off a bus near the Performing Arts Center wearing a black sweatshirt and a hood. Anyone with info about the man is asked to call the Police Department at 781-7312.
Original story: All city bus service in San Luis Obispo has been stopped and buses are under guard while police investigate bomb threats made by a morning passenger.
Police and bomb-sniffing dogs from the Department of State Parks are currently checking the buses and are asking for the public’s help in identifying the man who made the threats. Fifteen buses are affected, police said.
Cpt. Chris Staley said at about 8:30 a.m., a young man boarded a city bus at the transit center near City Hall, bound for the Cal Poly campus. The man made strange comments while on the bus involving a bomb on the bus.
A passenger in the bus took a video of the man before he exited at a bus stop near the Performing Arts Center.
While on the bus, the man handed out fliers declaring “pre-emptive war,” on “witches and Satanists and devils and possessed.”
While on the bus, the man reportedly warned people not to ride the bus for the rest of the week.
The person who took the video of the unidentified man brought it to the University Police Department, which notified the San Luis Obispo Police Department.
As of 10:55 a.m., all San Luis Obispo city transit buses were out of service while investigators boarded them searching for explosive devices or any other threats or evidence, Staley said.
This story was originally published January 6, 2016 at 12:21 PM with the headline "Suspect in bomb threats on San Luis Obispo bus is in custody."