The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
42°F
Current Conditions
Haze
View complete weather report

Color Scheme

Subscribe now

Another Wednesday, another bomb threat called in to a Washington state office building

By Rolf Boone Olympian

For the fifth consecutive Wednesday, a man called in a bomb threat to a Washington state office building. And for the second time since Sept. 26, he targeted the state Department of Health, according to Tumwater police.

That’s according to Lt. Jen Kolb, who said Building 2 at Town Center East on Israel Road was evacuated about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. And like all of the previous threats, Tumwater police and the Washington State Patrol bomb squad responded.

Employees in that building were sent home.

“We think it’s the same guy,” Kolb said, adding that law enforcement has narrowed it down to a possible suspect.

“It’s a drain on our resources,” Kolb said, “and it’s frustrating for state employees and law enforcement.”

The bomb threats began Sept. 26 and since have been called in every Wednesday.

Threats also were made on Oct. 3, Oct. 10 and Oct. 17. The bomb threats have twice targeted the state Attorney General’s office, twice targeted the state Department of Health and the state Highways and Licensing building.

However, if you’re keeping track it is six bomb threats overall because there was a threat and suspicious package reported on the Capitol Campus last Thursday.

A wave of pipe-bomb attacks also appeared to target top Democrats on the East Coast on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.

Pipe-bomb attacks by mail targeted Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama, other prominent Democrats and CNN but was thwarted without physical harm in an anxiety-filled day that deepened political tensions and fears two weeks before national midterm elections, according to AP.

The first crude bomb to be discovered had been delivered Monday to the suburban New York compound of George Soros, a liberal billionaire and major contributor to Democratic causes, AP reported. The FBI said an additional package was intended for former Attorney General Eric Holder but that one ended up at a Florida office of Democratic Rep. Deborah Wasserman Schultz, whose return address was on it.