Court building reopens after bomb scare

AUSTIN (KXAN) - After a suspicious package caused the evacuation of potentially thousands of people from the old and new courthouse Friday morning, a person of interest in custody told authorities it is only a broken camera.

The person of interest is identified as Douglas Scott Hoopes, age 48.  He was charged with making a false alarm or report, a state felony.   

The building reopened Friday afternoon. No injuries were reported.

Officials said deputies were put on alert Thursday because the man was involved in a highly emotional case, and he had been reportedly entering the building frequently Thursday and Friday.

An old tax building in the Travis County Criminal Justice complex, the Gault building at the Travis County Justice Center in Downtown Austin was evacuated. However, jail inmates and staff stayed inside the jail and were not evacuated.

Now employees are concerned there will be a back log of work for them to catch up on after losing four hours of work time.

"Like a thousand people a day come in on Fridays for the different courts that are there," said employee Craig Thompson.

The call regarding the suspicious package came in around 9:40 a.m., with the mandatory evacuation coming down 20 minutes later.

An e-mail went out to clerks alerting them of the Gault building evacuation. Moments after the e-mail was sent, the courthouse was cleared out. The new courthouse was first put under lockdown but was soon evacuated as well.

Judges, lawyers and clerks alike could all be seen standing on the sidewalk on the rainy Friday morning .

A bomb squad was called in but investigators will not say what exactly the package is. Officials said the main concern is learning how the suspicious package entered the building equipped with metal detectors inside.

"Everything was screened going into the building this morning as far as we know,"said Roger Wade, spokesperson for TCSO. "We don't know if someone may have brought something in a different way through another access point."

The Austin Police Department and Travis County Sheriff's Office are investigating.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people were stuck waiting around the complex because they couldn't get to their cars. All roads around the complex are blocked off, including 10th and Nueces streets in front of the jail. The jail was not evacuated.

The building and roads were repoened at 1:40pm.

Hoopes faces up to two years in jail and a $10,000 fine.