Kent bomb square a bust: closes bank, portion of street

A police bomb squad determined that a report of a suspicious package Friday morning outside of a downtown Kent bank turned out to be an empty box.

"There was nothing in it," said Lisa Price, Kent Police spokeswoman, in a phone interview Friday.

Police evacuated the HomeStreet Bank, 505 W. Harrison St., for about two hours after a person saw a 1-foot-square cardboard box left next to a bench by the bank.

The package was reported to police at about 11:20 a.m. Friday. Police allowed the bank to reopen at about 1:30 p.m.

A Federal Way Police bomb squad investigated the box. Kent, which does not have a bomb squad, has a mutual-aid agreement with Federal Way to use its investigators.

"It was outside of a bank so we needed to treat everything seriously," Price said.

Police blocked off about a one block area around the bank and moved all of the bank employees and customers away from the bank.

Price said she did not know if it was a bank employee or another individual who called police about the package.

Contact Kent Reporter Courts, government reporter Steve Hunter at shunter@kentreporter.com or 253-872-6600, ext. 5052.

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