police officer
police officerReuters

The Los Angeles Police Department investigated two bomb threats near a Jewish synagogue in Koreatown, L.A. early Tuesday morning.

At approximately 2 a.m. police received an emergency phone call from an unknown suspect saying a device had been planted on the grounds of Wilshire Boulevard Temple.

“Early this morning, we received a bomb threat specific to the Temple campus in the Mid-Wilshire district,” the temple said in a statement. “Our immediate action was to close the facility and make sure all of our families and staff who attend school and work there were informed of the closure, and stayed at home. As a result, the Mid-Wilshire campus is empty. We are currently assisting LAPD and other law enforcement in their investigation.”

Then, at about 8 a.m., police received another call saying there was a bomb at the intersection of Wilshire and South Hobart boulevards.

The call indicated that there was a device either near or inside a patrol car parked nearby.

Both calls were reportedly made from the same pay phone, said police officers on the scene.

No evidence was found of any explosives following an investigation that included a visit from the bomb squad, robotic devices and the BatCat, a large forklift-like device formally called the Bomb Assault Tactical Control Assessment Tool, The L.A. Jewish Journal reported.

“At this point, we have no reason to believe it’s connected to the events in Connecticut,” he said, referring to the recent tragedy that struck Sandy Hook Elementary School. The arrest “was based largely on video footage supplied by our security team from the temple’s surveillance cameras,” the synagogue said in an e-mail.