NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WVEC) -- After spending hours checking an apartment for possible bomb-making materials, firefighters found nothing indicating those types of items were inside the home.
Now a man is facing charges for calling in a false bomb threat.
Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) asked for the help of the Newport News Fire Department in determining if the materials were inside a unit at Boston Cove Apartment Homes, located in the 800 block of Forrest Drive.
Master Police Officer Brandon Maynard said police officers received a call to provide support to the fire department at 11:20 a.m. Wednesday.
NCIS spokesman Ed Buice told 13News Now the case involved a sailor. Buice provided this update late in the afternoon:
We had received information that bomb making materials were allegedly in the home. Out of an abundance of caution the Newport News Police bomb squad was notified and responded to the scene.
"Nothing of concern was found in the home and NCIS, the FBI and other responding agencies have left the scene. The Newport News Fire Department will handle any further investigation."
Boston Cove Apartment Homes was evacuated for much of the day Wednesday.
Newport News firefighters telling everyone to move away from apartment complex as the bomb squad makes their way in. #13NewsNow pic.twitter.com/AbSL8p2CJP
— Niko Clemmons (@13nikoclemmons) April 12, 2017
Because of the situation, buses from Newport News Public Schools dropped off students at Forrest Drive and Purlieu Drive. Parents had the option to pick up their children there or at school.
Right now: Newport News police & Fire on Forrest Dr. investigating possible bomb-making material inside an apartment. #13NewsNow pic.twitter.com/ffDFvcpZWh
— Niko Clemmons (@13nikoclemmons) April 12, 2017
Major B. West Jr. has been charged with Communication of a Bomb Threat Knowing it was False. West was friends with the sailor who lived in the apartment.
According to court documents, West called NCIS stating that "a sailor and her boyfriend were going to blow up the USS George Washington, she was going to sneak him aboard with a bomb."
West allegedly confessed to the investigators that he made false calls because "he was upset".