Bomb Threat Prompts Garfield Lockdown

SPOKANE — Two suspicious devices found in a home near Garfield Elementary in north Spokane  prompted the lockdown of the school as a precaution.

Initial information from the scene indicated the school had been evacuated but that is not the case.

Police found two explosive devices, possibly anti-aircraft artillery shells, in a home at 2215 N. Atlantic. The Department of Corrections was conducting a site survey for part of the residence which was open for rental to determine if it would be a suitable place for someone about to be released from prison to live.

However they saw the shells in another portion of the home, back out of the home and called the Spokane Police Department which responded with patrol units and the bomb squad.

Montogmery was subsequently blocked from Division to Normandie while Atlantic was blocked off from Carlisle to Mansfied and the police called in Explosive Ordinance Technicians from Fairchild Air Force Base to identify the devices.

But it turns out they just needed to ask the homeowner. The woman who lives in the residence said that her husband had served in the military and the two shells, located next to their fireplace, were just memorabilia left over from his time in the service. 

The devices are reportedly inert.