Ending Terrorism Will Take Our Help

The bank robber/bomber is wearing casual shoes and wash-and-wear pants. In the picture taken by the bank’s security cameras, the man’s shoes and pants look fairly clean. His poncho and wool face mask look in good condition, too, as if someone had taken time to launder them.

So, here’s our question: After the men set off the bomb Friday afternoon at Planned Parenthood in the Spokane Valley, then robbed a U.S. Bank branch, did they drive home? And who was waiting there for them? The wives who had cleaned the clothes? Or perhaps their mothers? Or their brothers? Or their children? Most likely, they do have children.

Terrorists don’t all live in secluded shacks. They, too, have families, neighbors, communities.

No one has been killed so far in a series of Spokane bombings, but this fact is almost a miracle, as if angels are working overtime at bomb scenes. A woman who usually works at the Planned Parenthood clinic on Fridays, and who often has her child with her, had taken last Friday off. At the Valley office of The Spokesman-Review, where a bomb was left at a back door in April, an employee slammed the door on the burning fuse with only seconds to spare. His quick action saved lives and prevented injuries.

Law enforcement officials said Monday that the men pose a real threat to our community - their violence is escalating. And they have left trauma in their wake. U.S. Bank tellers - and decent people throughout the community - must feel much less safe than ever before. The aftershocks of domestic terrorism rumble on many levels.

Law enforcement officials ask anyone who knows anything, or saw anything Friday, to contact them, even if the details seem insignificant.

Family members of the suspected Unabomber agonized over whether to go to authorities with their hunch about their brother. They did - because they thought of the victims. And now, those horrible bombings will end and lives will be spared.

A similar ending could be written to this streak of terrorism in Spokane. But it will take action.

These men live somewhere. They grew up in families and might have families of their own. They live near neighbors. They shop (they bought those ponchos, shoes and pants somewhere) and they go to the post office, get their cars repaired.

If you think you know who they are or have any information at all, pick up the phone. Here’s the FBI’s phone number: (509) 747-5195.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Rebecca Nappi/For the editorial board