ALBERT LEA, Minn. – A sweep of the Freeborn County Government Center for a bomb found nothing, Sheriff Ryan Shea declared the threat a hoax. The threat had been received about 1:30 p.m. in an anonymous call. The building was evacuated. The county’s K-9 sniffers, joined by snuffers from Rochester, swept the building . Sheriff Shea declared the call a hoax at 5:30. About the evacuation, he said: “we’d rather be safe than sorry.” The center houses both the county and city police units and government offices.
Not first scare
Sheriff Ryan Shea saw no connection with an earlier bomb scare. Police on July 5 had brought a locked gun box into the Government Center as evidence from a traffic stop. In the evidence room they opened the box and discovered a pipe bomb inside. The bomb was dismantled.