Calling it a bomb was his big mistake. Timothy Taratchila wanted to make an attention getting statement. It’s not easy to attract the attention of police in Glendale, California, but he most certainly did. He had Sheriff’s Department experts tied up for hours. After painting a toilet to suit his personal tastes, he dropped it off outside a shopping mall, with a note. “claiming it was an explosive device.”
Bomb threat in Glendale
A bomb scare made things exciting in Glendale, California on Thursday evening, August 24. Police were notified that a “graffiti-covered toilet at the Americana at Brand shopping center in Glendale” also happened to have a note claiming it’s an “explosive device.”
Don’t touch it, we’ll be right there, they advised.
By the next day, they had 22-year-old Timothy Taratchila, of Burbank, in custody. That was after they spent 3 hours trying to disarm his fake bomb. The shopping center really didn’t appreciate the disruption. The cops were called in around 8 p.m. and quickly took charge.
California man arrested for causing bomb scare with painted toilet left at shopping mall.
Timothy Taratchila allegedly left a graffiti-covered toilet with a note claiming it was an explosive device. He's held on $15,000 bail, charged with a false bomb threat.#FalseThreat pic.twitter.com/JKuPueTsT1
— US-Crimes (@OfficialUScrime) August 26, 2023
A visual inspection revealed “the toilet had at least two skulls painted on it.” There’s also some writing but the only word which can be seen in the image made public by police is the word “attempt.”
That was enough to justify evacuating the entire shopping center. It then took the LA County Sheriff’s Department bomb squad about three hours to announce it was nothing but a painted toilet.
Since police were rather perturbed to be dragged out into potential danger like that, they were particularly attentive as they combed through surveillance footage.
Arrested in Burbank
They also talked to everyone they could identify who might have been a witness.
“As the LASD bomb squad meticulously worked through their scene safety protocols, officers searched for the suspect,” a statement relates.
Separately, it’s being reported that “the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s bomb squad raced to the scene and a police drone was flown over the object to take a look as shoppers were ordered out.”
TOILET BOMB THREAT: Timothy Taratchila of Burbank has been charged with making a false bomb threat at the Americana at Brand shopping center Thursday night, according to the Glendale Police Department. #Glendale https://t.co/KPj56W0ImH
— Bryan Hernandez (@bryanhTV) August 25, 2023
Daily Mail also adds that “the bomb squad unit then used a mobile X-ray machine to examine its contents before determining that it was safe.”
It didn’t take them long to zero in on Taratchila. They arrested the Burbank resident without any resistance and charged him with “making a false bomb threat.”
Glendale Police are holding on to him for now because he can’t seem to scrape together his $15,000 bail.
