TACOMA, Wash. -- Audio-visual equipment inside what police described as a homemade wooden crate aroused enough suspicion to evacuate the County-City building in Tacoma and call in a bomb squad Monday afternoon, reported KIRO 7 Eyewitness News.
Pierce County sheriff’s Detective Ed Troyer said the crate aroused suspicion because of its "shoddy homemade appearance." He said when it was x-rayed and wires were seen, the decision was made to call in the Tacoma Police Department’s bomb squad as a precaution.
Hundreds of courthouse employees, attorneys, jurors, judges and County Council members were told to leave the building immediately.
Pierce County Council member Barbara Gelman told KIRO 7's Kevin McCarty she was on the 10th floor when the evacuation was ordered. "We had to walk down 10 floors. You couldn’t use the elevators,” Gelman said. "At first I thought it was a fire drill."
A bomb squad responded. Video from Chopper 7 showed a bomb technician in a protective suit approach the package and attach a cord or rope to the crate.
The technician then walked away and the crate was pulled down from a distance. Packing materials appeared to spill out. A group of police officers approached and what Troyer said was audio-visual equipment was taken out of the crate.
UNCUT: Chopper 7 Over Tacoma Bomb Squad
WATCH IT: Homemade Crate, Wires Lead To Evacuation
There was nothing dangerous inside the crate, Troyer said.
“At this point we don’t believe it was anything other than somebody using bad judgment, some horrible packaging and had some things sent through our loading dock they shouldn’t have,” said Troyer.
It took about two hours to examine the package and determine it was safe. The building then reopened.
Troyer said the suspicious package was sent through the mail and addressed to the Tacoma City Attorney’s office with a return address in Marysville, Ohio.
The building houses Pierce superior and district courts, as well as the Tacoma municipal courts as well as some Tacoma city attorneys, the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office, the Sheriff's Department and Pierce County Council, along with some county administrative offices.