At around noon Thursday, a man entered the courthouse saying he had explosives in his backpack that could blow up the building. Police say they then used pepper spray on him, arrested him and removed him from the building. The man is in police custody.
Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office was the lead investigator on scene. The bomb squad assisted authorities following an alert of a “suspicious package” at the courthouse.
Several streets around South Sixth Street were blocked off for safety reasons. The Hall of Justice was fully evacuated.
The building reopened an hour after the evacuation, at around 2 p.m. Investigators determined the contents of the backpack posed no threat to the public.
This story may be updated.
