Suspicious device destroyed in controlled explosion

SEATTLE — A bomb squad robot blew up a suspicious device found outside the FBI offices in downtown Seattle early Monday morning.

Investigators found no evidence of explosives in the package, which was considered suspicious at first because of a red flashing light, an FBI representative said.

Security officers at the FBI building saw the package around 2 a.m. and called Seattle police. Police, the Federal Protective Service and an FBI bomb technician responded.

KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Rick Price was doing a live report when the robot blew up the package, making a loud blast behind him.

After the controlled explosion, detectives picked up the pieces of the device for evidence.

"We won't know what we have until we complete our investigation," Greg Sackman of the Seattle Police Department told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News after the blast. "We treat everything with the respect it deserves."

Seattle police closed several square blocks around the incident on Spring Street just east of Third Avenue for two hours. The streets were opened shortly before 5 a.m.

KIRO