March 13, 2010 in City

Device on man snarls traffic

Self-proclaimed vampire wore bomblike metal pipe

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Associated Press photo

Police detain a man wearing what appeared to be a pipe bomb after he was kicked out of a Seattle homeless shelter Friday morning.
(Full-size photo)

SEATTLE – A man wearing what appeared to be a pipe bomb was kicked out of a Seattle homeless shelter Friday morning after claiming to be a vampire, then wandered around before surrendering to police, authorities and witnesses said.

The contraption did not turn out to be a real explosive device, Seattle Police said Friday afternoon, although it was treated like a bomb at the time because as police spokesman Mark Jamieson said, it looked “real enough.”

A photograph of the device posted on the police Web site shows a tape-wrapped metal pipe with metal end caps and bits of plastic debris attached. Jamieson said the device appeared to have a wire attached.

The man, whose name was not released, complied with officers who rushed to the scene and voluntarily removed the suspicious device, Jamieson said.

The 33-year-old man, dressed in black, was taken into custody for questioning. Police said they planned to book him into the King County jail for making “threats to bomb.”

Employees at a nearby men’s shelter alerted police after the man walked into the shelter, said he was a vampire and wanted to eat people, a police report said.

After the staff refused to serve him and asked him to leave, the man said he was a space cowboy and showed the staff what appeared to be a pipe bomb taped to his wrist. He then threatened to blow up the building, according to police.

Jamieson said police responded to numerous calls shortly after 8 a.m. and closed off the area around Third and James near the King County Courthouse.

Police cautiously approached the man and he cooperated. They gave him a pair of surgical scissors and had him remove the device.

“Once we started talking with him, he was compliant,” Jamieson said.

A nearby apartment resident, Justin Anderson, said he saw the man walking down the street, pacing in circles, and playing with tape that held a pipe to his arm.

Anderson, 29, said the man obeyed police commands shortly before 9 a.m. and put his hands behind his head and surrendered.

“I was enjoying a leisurely morning,” the student said. “Then something more interesting happened.”

The incident closed a major downtown intersection for about two hours during rush hour.

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