Starbucks Receives Explosives Threats

Rich Wang, Staff Writer


Starbucks has been at the center of controversy in recent weeks after a manager in a Philadelphia branch called police to report two black men who had not made an order and were waiting for a friend. Police arrested the men, with the company CEO later apologizing for the incident.

On April 29, a man was arrested at a Starbucks in Escondido, California, on Sunday after allegedly making a bomb threat, police said. The incident “began about 6:15 a.m. at the Starbucks near West Valley Parkway and Auto Park Way,” said Escondido police Sgt. Craig Miller.

According to NBC San Diego, employees at the branch of the coffee chain asked a man, identified as David Schertz, 31, to leave after he told them he had a bomb concealed in his duffel bag. When he refused, they called police.

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Bomb/Arson Unit was called to the scene and as a precaution they destroyed the bag. According to Fox 5, investigators later determined that there had been no explosives in the bag. No one was hurt in the incident.

Schertz, who is reportedly homeless, was found about a block away from the Starbucks. When police confronted him, he “made some strange statements” about the bag’s contents, stated Miller. Schertz was charged with resisting arrest and taken into custody at the Vista Detention Center.