Man takes hostages at California bank as bomb threat prompts evacuations

A report of a bomb threat at a Chase Bank branch in downtown Bakersfield, California, prompted authorities to evacuate the area Tuesday afternoon, police said.

Authorities were made aware of the threat at the bank on the 1500 block of 17th Street about 1 p.m., Bakersfield Police Sgt. Eric Celedon said in an Instagram video.

Celedon told ABC affiliate KERO that an “unidentified male” entered the bank and was barricaded with an unknown number of people.

“There’s a very active scene,” Celedon said in the Instagram video. “If you’re in the area, please leave.”

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ San Francisco field office said agency resources were being sent to Bakersfield.

Police urged people to stay away from the city’s civic center.

A California spokesperson for JPMorganChase said in a statement that the company’s focus is “on the safety of everyone involved” and that it was working with law enforcement.

Bakersfield, a city of 422,000, is located about 113 miles north of Los Angeles, on the southern edge of California’s San Joaquin Valley, an agricultural hub.