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The Berkeley Police Department’s Bomb Squad detonated a suspicious cardboard package on the steps of the Civic Center Thursday after evacuating the first two floors and closing down traffic in front of the building.  

“The package did not contain anything of note, really, just more folded up cardboard boxes,” police spokesman Mary Kusmiss said after the package was detonated by the bomb squad.  

Police arrested the man who was carrying the Fed Ex box, Ronald Rigoberto, 39, on suspicion of making terrorist threats and disturbing the peace, according to Kusmiss. She added that Rigoberto had been arrested in April for making a similar threat at a Knight Ridder Office in San Jose. 

Kusmiss said Rigoberto arrived at the Civic Center shortly before 9 a.m. and told city staff at the lobby check-in counter that he had to deliver a package but was uncertain to which department. He finally decided on the city attorney’s office on the fourth floor.  

Moments later he walked into the Housing Department on the second floor and began to disrupt staff by making statements about civil liberties. A staffer called police and Rigoberto was detained minutes later on the steps of the Civic Center.  

When the officer asked him what was in the box, Rigoberto said, “It will take the full extent of the law to open this box,” and “It’s going to go ‘poof.’” 

At that point the bomb squad was called in, traffic closed off and the first two floors of the Civic Center evacuated.  

Bomb Squad Officer John Jones, a FBI-trained bomb squad technician, took about half an hour to suit up in several layers of protective armor. He then placed an explosive charge next to the box, which was sitting atop a concrete balustrade at the top of the Civic Center steps.  

When detonated, the charge blew the cardboard contents