Man with car full of explosives in Santa Monica arrested, FBI says

SANTA MONICA >> A car with explosives and a man in camouflage and armed with a gun were seized in Santa Monica today, hours after a horrific mass killing in Florida and hours before 400,000 people were expected at a street festival in West Hollywood.

FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller told City News Service “we are assisting the Santa Monica Police Department with the arrest of an individual,” but would not supply any more details.

A City News Service editor described a white sedan, parked on the wrong side of a street with its doors open in Santa Monica, surrounded by police.

Next to the car was a gas can, some camouflage gear and a backpack. The car had Indiana license plates and was covered with insect debris, as if it had been driven a great distance cross-country.

There was no bomb squad present, and police told the Los Angeles Times the person arrested was in town for the Pride Festival, and a security guard’s uniform.

Santa Monica police would not confirm the incident, or link it to the Pride Festival underway this weekend at the center of gay, lesbian and transgender life in Southe Califoia.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Santa Monica police responded to a report of a prowler in the area of a city park at Olympic Boulevard at 17th Street in Santa Monica, 7 miles away from the Pride Day festival.

They encountered a man dressed in camouflage who said he was waiting for a friend. His car, with Indiana plates, was searched, and material described as pipe bomb materials was seized.

Sheriff’s deputies in West Hollywood said the man did not have any apparent coection with the Florida mass murder.