[Vision2020] Suspect Arrested in Case of Bomb at MLK Day Parade

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

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Suspect arrested in case of bomb at MLK day parade

SPOKANE - Federal agents arrested a man today in the case of a bomb that
had been placed at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in Spokane in
January but was found before it could explode and cause injuries, a law
enforcement official said.

The federal official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The
Associated Press that agents were preparing to search a location tied to
the man.

Meanwhile, KHQ-TV of Spokane reported that federal and local law
enforcement officers had surrounded a home near Colville, about 80 miles
northwest of Spokane. Two T-shirts found inside the bomb were tied to that
rural area.

Additional details were not immediately available. The official requested
anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case ahead of an
official announcement planned later in the day.

The bomb was found on Jan. 17 inside a backpack by city workers before the
start of the parade, which was rerouted. The bomb was defused without
incident.

Officials for the FBI described the bomb as sophisticated and designed to
produce mass casualties.

For weeks, the FBI has said nothing about possible suspects, but public
opinion from the beginning focused on some of the white supremacist groups
that have brought notoriety to the region in the past three decades. The
area once served as headquarters for Richard Butler’s Aryan Nations, whose
members were lured by the small number of minorities.

Officials for the FBI in Spokane, which is leading the search, declined to
comment on the developments today.

The bomb was sent to an FBI lab in Quantico, Va., and the agency offered a
$20,000 reward for information from the public.

The two T-shirts found with the bomb were tied to Stevens County. One of
the shirts was distributed last year at the "Relay for Life" race in
Colville. The second shirt - which had the phrase "Treasure Island Spring
2009" on the front - was from a local theater production in 2009 in the
town of Chewelah.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
and the Realist adjusts his sails."

- Unknown