A 34-year-old man in Seattle, Washington was reportedly arrested for lighting his truck tires on fire in front of the FBI’s Seattle field office and then falsely telling first responders that he had a bomb in the vehicle.
Firefighters responded to a vehicle fire on the 300 block of Spring Street in downtown Seattle in the early afternoon Saturday, KIRO 7 reported. Once the police arrived, the man who allegedly set the fire told officers said he did it on purpose “to get the attention of police” and also said he had a bomb in his car.
Police Arrest Suspect in #DowntownSeattle Bomb Threat https://t.co/Vgo19tozTM https://t.co/26xoiwekLs
— Seattle Police Dept. (@SeattlePD) January 17, 2021
Several blocks of the street were then closed, according to KING 5, and The Seattle Police Department’s Arson and Bomb squad deployed a robot to investigate the vehicle. The police ultimately found that there was no bomb. (RELATED: Michigan State Capitol Reopened After Evacuation Due To Bomb Threat)
The FBI also said the bomb threat was based on a false report, according to KIRO 7.
“Right now, Seattle, we believe is safe,” Seattle Interim Police Chief Adrian Diaz said during a press conference. “We believe that there is no actionable intelligence that says that there is a threat.”
The man who allegedly made the bomb threat was booked into the King County Jail.