(Los Angeles) A California courthouse was temporarily closed Wednesday after a homemade bomb exploded, local police said, arresting a suspect at the scene.
Two people were injured, but their injuries are not life-threatening, according to authorities in Santa Maria, a city near Santa Barbara, northwest of Los Angeles.
A suspect “was immediately taken into custody,” according to the Santa Maria County Sheriff. “The explosion was caused by an intentionally placed improvised explosive device,” he added.
Attorney Bill Ausman was arriving at the courthouse around 8:30 a.m. when he saw dozens of people fleeing in panic.
“I heard an explosion and someone shouting: ‘It’s a bomb! It’s a bomb! It’s a bomb!'” he told AFP by telephone.
“A man escaped from the courthouse and was arrested by law enforcement,” he continued. “He was yelling that over 900,000 people a year were being killed by the FDA,” the U.S. drug agency.
“It was really chaotic, everyone was out of the court,” he described, confiding that he had “never seen that” in his 25-year career.
“It really makes me question the security of our courts,” he added.
The United States is on high alert just weeks before a hotly contested presidential election.
Last week, another alleged assassination attempt on Donald Trump was foiled after the shooter’s rifle was spotted in the bushes at his Florida golf club.
The Santa Maria courthouse was the scene of the lengthy 2005 trial of superstar Michael Jackson on child abuse charges.