Salt Lake City police and agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are investigating a pipe-bomb explosion at the downtown city library.
Police said a homemade explosive device placed inside a paper bag went off about 2:30 p.m. Friday on the third floor of the library at 210 E. 400 South.
"It was very loud. The entire library heard it," said library employee Ryan Carty.
About 400 people were inside the building at the time of the explosion, police said. No one was injured in the incident.
The closest person to the pipe bomb, according to several library patrons, was an elderly woman sitting about 30 feet away from the explosion.
"She was really shaken," said Russell Bustos.
The explosion sent a chair partially through one of the third-floor windows, cracking the Plexiglas and creating a small hole. The bomb went off near the northwest corner of the building in a reading area near several large windows. It was away from the main area of books.
"There was a big boom. Within 30 seconds the whole building smelled like smoke," said Ken Shanafelt.
Bustos said a few moments after the explosion, the smoke that collected near the entryway entry way had the same smell as when fireworks are lit.
"The first thing I thought was it was a gunshot or bomb," said Bob Berets, who was working on the first floor when the pipe bomb exploded.
Shortly after the bomb went off, people started gathering in the atrium on the library's main floor.
"People were pointing up above, someone had seen a policeman go running. We're all wondering what the heck happened," said Curt Bench, who was attending the annual meeting of the Utah State Historical Society on the lower floors of the library.
After the explosion, library employees on each floor went around to the patrons and calmly asked them to evacuate the building.
"It was very scary. You just want to get out of there," Carty said, adding there was "no panic" by anyone.
"We just wanted to get everyone out," said library employee Jenny Lam.
Two children, ages 10 and 12, were separated from their groups during the evacuation and lost for awhile. One showed up later at home and the other was found unharmed, said Salt Lake City Police detective Joe Cyr.
Streets surrounding the library were shut down while officers investigated the incident. People were left standing in the rain across the street at Washington Square.
Salt Lake City police said they did not have any information about whoever left the bomb in the library.
"We're extremely concerned," Cyr said. "We're very fortunate no one was injured."
Agents from the FBI and ATF were seen in the building, looking around the area where the bomb went off. Library employees were taken to Salt Lake City Police headquarters to be questioned. FBI Special Agent Patrick Kiernan confirmed that members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force were also questioning people about the explosion.
"We have bomb techs assigned," he said. "Anytime there's any sort of incident with an explosive device, we are going to liaison with the ATF and the local police."
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