Bomb threat came from Jamaica

An unknown caller from Kingston, Jamaica, turned Ritzville’s busy freeway business district on its ear Monday when the caller threatened to blow up the Ritzville Starbucks store.

Police Chief David McCormick said Starbucks Manager Eva Ross took a phone call about 10:48 a.m. on Labor Day. The caller first asked if this was Ritzville. They then wanted to know if it was Ritzville, Wash. When Ross answered in the affirmative, they told her, “There’s a bomb in the building and everyone is going to die.”

McCormick said Ross hung up on the caller, who then immediately called back and repeated the threat.

Ross then called 9-1-1 and the city’s police department was the first to arrive on scene. Sergeant Mark Cameron quickly launched an evacuation process.

With the assistance of the Washington State Patrol and the Adams County Sheriff’s Office, Cameron evacuated seven businesses, sealed off Galbreath Way and a portion of Weber Road. Cameron and the others then evacuated the residences on Weber Avenue between Jackson Street and Bauman Road. Fairway Drive was also evacuated in the same area.

McCormick said the next step as he was responding to the scene was to contact various bomb squads. With the holiday, agencies were functioning with smaller crews. The state patrol was prepared to send a bomb technician from the Tri-Cities if a device was found.

McCormick also contacted the TSA at the Spokane International Airport. The TSA is contracted to provide security in the nation’s airports. The agency had one technician and a bomb sniffing dog on duty at the airport. A TSA representative talked McCormick through a search plan to determine if there was an unusual package or device in the building.

Two Ritzville Firefighters, Dennis Sackmann and Tim Wellsandt, volunteered to accompany Ross on a search of the Starbucks. They then took Melinda Ferderer through the adjacent Taco Del Mar.

The restaurant hadn’t opened for business yet. Ferderer said she felt pretty confident that nothing was in Taco Del Mar since the doors were still locked when the bomb threat occurred.

McCormick said it appears the bomb threat was aimed at the corporate structure of Starbucks, an effort to financially impact the business.

“They wanted that business shut down,” he said. “Probably for some financial reason.”

The threat also caused several other businesses to suffer a financial loss during the nearly three-hour evacuation.

“It was a mess,” McCormick said. “I imagine it cost each business several thousand dollars.”

After obtaining a subpoena for phone records. The police department worked with CenturyLink to determine the first call originated in Kingston, Jamaica.

McCormick said all those involved worked well.

“They responded without hesitation and the response was very quick and they did exactly what they were asked to do,” he said of all the agencies involved.”

He had extra praise for the firemen who volunteered to enter the buildings.

“They handled the situation like professionals and none of those guys had to go in the building. They volunteered to do it,” McCormick said.

Starbucks employees were not allowed to comment on the incident per corporate policy.

“The safety and security of partners and customers is our top priority and we are pleased with the quick response of our team in this situation. As there is an active police investigation, we do not have additional information to share,” a media spokesperson said on Monday via e-mail.