The buses were rerouted to the Ranch at Interstate 25 and Crossroads Boulevard as a precaution. (CREDIT: Nick McGurk/9NEWS)
Larimer County Sheriff's Office deputies quarantined two buses near the Events Center which were en route from Salt Lake City to Denver and were scheduled to stop in Fort Collins. (CREDIT: Nick McGurk/9NEWS)
According to the Larimer County Sheriff's Office, the bomb threat came in just after 5 a.m. on Wednesday.
Larimer County Sheriff's Office deputies quarantined the two buses near the Events Center.
The bomb squad searched the buses using a bomb robot and X-ray'd all the luggage. They did not find anything suspicious.
The buses were en route from Salt Lake City to Denver and were scheduled to stop in Fort Collins before being rerouted.
Sheriff's spokesman John Schulz says a man identifying himself as 66-year-old Roland Arel, of Sacramento, Calif., was detained. Schulz says Arel is believed to be a transient who boarded the bus in Salt Lake City.
Witnesses say the man seemed mentally unstable and mumbled to himself constantly. He went to the bathroom with a white package and then returned to his seat with the package.
One passenger told 9News the man mentioned the Aurora shooting. Later, he mentioned he had a bomb and moved his arm as if to throw it, over and over.
"He said there was a bomb, and it was supposed to go off at 11 o'clock," said Jimmy Gonzalez, who sat next to Arel.
Other passengers said recent events made them even more uncomfortable when they heard Arel mention a bomb.
"I felt that he said the wrong thing, at the wrong time, in the wrong state, with everything bad that just happened here," said Michael Lane, a passenger on one of the two buses.
After one bus driver reported the bomb threat to authorities, the drivers claimed mechanical problems, then stopped and unloaded 96 passengers.
The suspect stayed on board but came out voluntarily later, after authorities contacted him via the driver's cellphone. He faces charges including menacing.
(KUSA-TV © 2012 Multimedia Holdings Corporation with The Associated Press)