Valley Bank Robbers Shouted Slogans About Freemen, Fbi Says Agency Releases Sketches Of Two Additional Suspects
Robbers who bombed a Spokane Valley bank on April 1 shouted about the FBI’s standoff with the Montana freemen as they fled, investigators say.
“Tell the cops to free the people of Justus or we’ll be back,” FBI agents say one of the robbers yelled.
The FBI now believes at least four men robbed and then detonated a bomb at the U.S. Bank at Sprague and Mullan.
Minutes earlier, a bomb also exploded at the Valley office of The Spokesman-Review.
There were no injuries in either bombing.
The FBI released composite drawings of two additional suspects Tuesday.
Bomb experts with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms say both devices were potentially lethal.
The bombings and robbery occurred one week after the FBI, using a ruse, arrested two leaders of the Montana freemen, including a former Colfax, Wash., businessman.
Those arrests began a standoff that continues with an estimated dozen other fugitive freemen at their “Justus Township” near Jordan, Mont.
Michael Byrne, supervisory FBI agent, didn’t say why the FBI waited three weeks before confirming that the robbers made references to the freemen.
He said agents now are focusing on the likelihood that the robbery was carried out by right-wing extremists or white supremacists. But he still wouldn’t rule out the possibility that the bombings and notes left behind were ruses.
“We’re now giving a lot of credence to scriptural writings left behind by the robbers,” Byrne said.
Copies of a two-page typed manifesto were scattered at the bank by the fleeing robbers. A copy of the same note was left at The Spokesman-Review’s office a couple miles away.
A logo resembling the trademark of a secret Aryan enforcement group known as the Phineas Priesthood was at the bottom of the note.
“Tell your government and its people not to mess with the freemen.”
“It’s free the people in Justus.”
“Justice for the people in Justus.”
“Let the people in Justus go free.”
“Tell the government to leave the freemen alone and get out of Montana.”
The references were shouted after the robbers herded bank employees and customers away from the pipe bomb they detonated on the head teller’s counter.
Investigators believe the bomb was carried into the bank in a large canvas bag the robbers stuffed with money from the bank. At least $50,000 was believed taken.
“We believe they knew going in that they were going to ignite the bomb,” possibly as a political statement, Byrne said.
“We have to pay attention to what they were saying” as they fled, Byrne said.
Byrne said the FBI now believes one of the robbers - a heavy-set man wearing a suit and tie - was in the bank just before the holdup.
After he left, witnesses saw him gesture as though he were pumping an invisible shotgun and mouthing the word “boom,” Byrne said.
About a minute later, the masked robbers drove up to the bank.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Bombing suspects