Bomb threat made against Anaheim synagogue — no devices found

An Anaheim house of worship for the Jewish faith was evacuated on Saturday evening after police received a bomb threat toward the synagogue over the phone.

After the evacuation, officials determined that the area was safe after no devices were located.

At 6:49 p.m., a man called the Anaheim Police Department, threatening to bomb a synagogue on the 1500 block of South Sinclair Street, said Anaheim Police spokesman Sgt. Daron Wyatt. Wyatt said he understood the group there is called Makom Shalom.

A Facebook page for Makom Shalom Judaica on Sinclair Street indicates it’s a religious center and bookstore.

About 200 people were evacuated while officers and a bomb squad with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department searched the area for any possible explosive devices, Wyatt said.

The area was declared safe at about 8:50 p.m.

Wyatt said officers were trying to identify the man who called anonymously.

After the search, members of the synagogue were allowed to re-enter the building. Most of the members went home, but some stayed behind to talk about the incident.

Jose Luis Alanis, 55, of Diamond Bar, is a member of the majority-Spanish speaking congregation. He said police evacuated the synagogue shortly after members finished their worship services.

“They came into the synagogue and they checked all the rooms,” Alanis said. During the search, Alanis said the members of the congregation were told to stand to the side of the building along a curb.

When asked about how the congregation felt about the threat in light of the deadly synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, Alanis said members are not afraid.

“The Anaheim police, we know they are doing a good job in taking care of the community,” Alanis said. “We are not afraid at all.”

Another member of the synagogue, Orvelin Velli, 51, of Santa Ana, who was also present during the evacuation, said that he is feeling okay, but said he will be more careful with future situations.

The Anaheim incident comes days after a vandal scrawled “(Expletive) Jews” in red on the facade of an Irvine Synagogue on the morning of Oct. 31. The incident also happens in the wake of the Oct. 27 shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue where 11 people were shot and killed.