Monday, April 29, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
The search was on today for the people who abandoned a stolen car on the Tropicana Avenue overpass at Interstate 15, then placed a bogus call to dispatchers claiming a bomb was inside it.
The Nevada Highway Patrol received the bomb threat at 11:38 a.m. Sunday, prompting troopers and Metro Police to shut off all Interstate 15 ramps feeding the overpass where the 1984 Honda was parked.
Because the bomb squad found a cardboard box with strings hanging out of it in the trunk and open boxes inside the car with magazines about bombs, authorities took the threat seriously, Trooper Steve Harney said.
Police also closed Tropicana west between Las Vegas Boulevard and I-15 to pedestrians and motorists as a bomb squad from Nellis Air Force Base searched the car.
No device was found, Harney said.
"It created a bit of havoc on the roadway," he said.
Traffic was delayed four hours. It was ruled a false alarm about 3 p.m. The roadways were cleared for through traffic about 4 p.m.
The 1984 Honda was stolen out of Santa Monica, Calif.
Police dusted the car for fingerprints and were waiting for the results, Harney said.
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