The Veterans Administration Hospital was evacuated for several hours Thursday in Grand Junction after officials there received a bomb threat. According to hospital spokesperson Rick Townsend the threat was phoned in by a woman just after 8 a.m.. The caller said a device was to be detonated at 2:30 p.m. in a patient treatment area on the first floor of the hospital. The VA's own police force with the help of Grand Junction police officers began a sweep of the building, looking for anything suspicious, but turned up nothing. The threat was not considered credible, however the hospital did activate its disaster plan and began evacuating about 200 staff members and 50 patients at 1:30 p.m. to designated safe areas within the facility. Hospital officials say the FBI has been notified and will conduct an investigation into who called in the threat.
