2 Boys Charged In Bomb Hoax

Two boys were charged Thursday with planting a fake bomb outside the downtown Spokane federal building earlier this week.

The boys, 14 and 15, were each charged with intimidation or harassment with an explosive and first-degree malicious mischief, both felonies.

They were arrested Tuesday and confessed to making the dynamite-simulating “bomb” out of wooden broomsticks, wires and a Nazi flag.

The mother of the 14-year-old said boredom - not white-supremacist beliefs - drove the boys to plant the fake bomb.

Police and FBI agents arrested the boys after receiving a tip identifying the two as suspects in the hoax.

The fake bomb prompted Spokane police to bring in 50 officers to block downtown streets, evacuate hundreds of people and re-route dozens of buses Monday morning. A bomb squad robot blew up the device.

, DataTimes