Suspicious briefcase in CdA contained explosive

A suspicious briefcase found near the Kootenai County Fairgrounds this evening contained some kind of explosive device. The briefcase was reported at 5:50 p.m. by passersby who spotted it while they were heading to the North Idaho Fair a couple blocks away, said Coeur d’Alene Police Sgt. Christie Wood. The case had the words “Warning do not touch” and “Boom” written on it in black ink. It was left in a grassy area near the sidewalk on Second Street, south of Kathleen Avenue and behind the Great Floors store on Government Way. The Spokane County Bomb Squad safely detonated the device shortly after 10 p.m., Wood said. No one was injured and no property was damaged, she said. It will need to be examined to determine what kind device it was, she added. Wood said the few area residents who were home when police arrived on the scene were evacuated as a precaution and the area was cordoned off. The site was congested with pedestrian and vehicle traffic from the fair, Wood said. Fair patrons who parked their cars in the area were unable to return to their vehicles for hours.