Police say man barricaded himself inside bank with others in California city of Bakersfield

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BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP) — A man barricaded himself inside a bank building in the Southern California city of Bakersfield with an unknown number of people, police said Tuesday.

Police responding to a call of a bomb threat arrived at the scene around 1 p.m. at a bank building in downtown Bakersfield, Sgt. Eric Celedon of the Bakersfield Police Department told the ABC affiliate, 23ABC.

City Hall and other buildings were placed on lockdown, including the police headquarters.

“We are on scene at the Chase Bank Building on Chester Avenue and 17th Street for a confirmed bomb threat,” the police department posted on X. “Please stay out of the downtown area. Road closures are in effect and will remain in effect until further notice.”

About a dozen police cars were on scene along with one tactical vehicle and multiple emergency responders, according to media reports.

Jacob Davidson, a livestreamer known as Dad’s Gone Live, was a block from the bank at his family’s tattoo shop when he started getting calls from his subscribers alerting him to the bomb threat.

“I went into the bank’s parking garage and watched the cops enter the back of the bank. This is the biggest police presence I’ve ever seen in this town,” Davidson said. “Now I’m watching them set up the trauma tents with the green, red and yellow tags, and black tags too, along with a command center about a block away.”

Law enforcement agencies often protectively set up trauma tents — which are color-coded to help sort people based on the severity of injuries — just in case they become needed during an emergency situation.