Man with makeshift bomb arrested in Santa Cruz
Sheriff’s deputies on Friday arrested a man they believe carried a homemade bomb made from a small apple juice container and gunpowder.
Authorities closed 30th Avenue between Brommer Street and Portola Drive from about 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and knocked on doors to evacuate residents as the county bomb team examined the device and destroyed it, Deputy April Skalland said.
About 7:30 a.m. at 30th Avenue and the railroad tracks, a deputy spotted 40-year-old transient Glenn Goclon wearing gloves carrying a black bag and a green laundry bag, Skalland said. The deputy talked to Goclon, who appeared to be on drugs, Skalland said.
Goclon sat down on the ground as he talked to the deputy. He seemed nervous and fidgety as the deputy asked what was in the bags.
Then he took off running with the bags, Skalland said. The deputy tackled him less than a block away.
While the deputy wrestled and handcuffed the suspect, Goclon said he did not want to go back to prison and that he had a bomb “for his protection,” Skalland said.
The deputy detained Goclon and called the county bomb squad. Deputies told neighbors there was a bomb threat, but it was not mandatory to evacuate, Skalland said. Many residents left their homes, authorities said.
Thirtieth Avenue was closed from Brommer Street to Portola Drive as the bomb team X-rayed the bags.
They eventually found a small, plastic apple juice container filled with gunpowder
with three wicks, Skalland said.