What appeared to be a home-made bomb comprised of fireworks was detonated by a bomb squad at 2:12 p.m. today outside the downtown library on Mill Avenue.
There was a shout of “fire in the hole” and smoke rose from near the library.
Renton police had evacuated the downtown library about 1 p.m. Wednesday after Parks Department employees found an unidentified “device” in a bag 50 feet away from the library in the bushes along the Cedar River Trail.
They called police and the library was evacuated and the Port of Seattle Bomb Squad was called in.
The secured area around the library was enlarged as a bomb-detecting robot prepared to check the bag at about 1:40 p.m. The perimeter was set at 200 feet.
Renton Police Commander Clark Wilcox said at about 1:30 p.m. that no one was in danger. An agent with the federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agency was at the scene.
Police closed Mill Avenue South and the parking lot at the old Renton City Hall building on Mill Avenue was closed. Mill, the parking lot and the library reopened shortly after the bomb was detonated.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is investigating this case. There was no new information on Thursday.
Ray Davis was in the library on his computer when library staff told visitors to leave.
“They told us just to get out. We couldn’t take our stuff with us, nothing,” he said.
Davis was frustrated he was given no explanation and questioned the police officers. Eventually he was told they found a pipe-bomb outside of the library. He was told he could stick around or leave like everyone else.
“I’m thinking maybe somebody’s pissed at the City Council for voting the library down,” said Davis. “That’s my first thought.”
No note was left with the device and no threats had been called into the city, said Alex Pietsch, administrator of the city’s Department of Community and Economic Development.
“It appears to be pre-Fourth of July home-made stuff,” said Pietsch.
The last time something similar occurred in Renton was in the late 1990s when a similar explosive device was found on the Cedar Avenue overpass above Interstate 405, he said.
