Elaborate Hoax Forces Residents From Apartment Building

Elaborate Hoax Forces Residents From Apartment Building


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(KSL News) At first it was a hazmat situation, then a bomb threat, but in the end it was all an elaborate hoax.

It was all a part of a bizarre puzzle left for police by a man who ended up committing suicide.

Elaborate Hoax Forces Residents From Apartment Building

Officers were called to the Gateway apartments at 135 South 500 West last night to check on a resident. In his apartment they found a bag filled with white powder marked "Anthrax" and a barricaded room.

Through the window officers could see something they thought could hold an explosive device.

The apartment building was evacuated and the bomb squad called in to take a closer look.

Elaborate Hoax Forces Residents From Apartment Building

Det. Kevin Joiner/ Salt Lake City Police Dept.: "We really did this one (by the) textbook. You definitely want to err on the side of caution."

Once officers were inside they found no explosives, only the body of the apartment's resident, dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The white power turned out to be powdered sugar.

Elaborate Hoax Forces Residents From Apartment Building

All residents are now back in their homes and officers say there is no ongoing threat at the scene.

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