Bombers Failed To Destroy Van After Robbery

Monday’s bombings and bank robbery in the Spokane Valley were well-planned and sophisticated.

But there was at least one flaw in the smoothly executed crimes - the bandits’ failed attempt to destroy one of their getaway vehicles.

Sources said Tuesday that a gasoline bomb meant to burn up the 1991 Chevrolet van used in the crimes malfunctioned, leaving investigators a good place to look for clues.

At least three men are suspected of bombing the Valley office of The Spokesman-Review, then robbing the U.S. Bank branch at 9208 E. Sprague and setting off a bomb inside that building.

No one was hurt in the two explosions.

Investigators think the bomb that blew up outside the newspaper office at 2:46 p.m. Monday was meant as a distraction to keep sheriff’s deputies busy during the robbery that occurred 11 minutes later.

“This was well-planned and executed,” said Burdena G. Pasenelli, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Seattle region.

Pasenelli’s comments came during an afternoon news conference with Sheriff John Goldman. The pair released artists’ sketches of two suspects, bank camera photographs of the robbery and a color picture of the van in the hope of getting tips about the suspects.

Authorities refused to say how much money was taken from the bank.

Pasenelli and Spokane County Sheriff John Goldman said the men knew what they were doing.

“We assume that this was not a spur-of-the-moment crime,” Goldman said.

Pasenelli said several things point to a well-thought-out crime:

The thieves stole the van used in the bombings from Ellensburg and used it only for Monday’s crimes.

They ditched the van, which was seen by several witnesses, for another vehicle. “Somebody obviously picked them up,” she said.

They’re still free, even though five law enforcement agencies are looking for them.

Then there was the timing - something authorities didn’t mention.

The thieves pulled the heist on the first day of the month, a time when most banks have plenty of money on hand to cash pay, Social Security and welfare checks.

The time of day the bandits chose to strike - between 2:30 and 3 p.m. - also showed sophistication.

Deputies are usually changing shifts then, which means many are in downtown Spokane at the Public Safety Building.

There also was a suspicious broadcast over deputies’ radios about the time of the bombings. A woman’s voice came on saying that an officer had been shot, Goldman said.

Investigators are trying to determine if that transmission was meant as a diversion, too, the sheriff said.

At least one of the thieves’ plans fell through, when for some reason the gasoline bomb in the van failed to ignite.

Authorities found the van, stolen sometime between Saturday night and Monday morning, intact in a parking lot at the Valley Home Base store two hours after the first bombing.

Sources said a jar filled with a flammable liquid - possibly gasoline - was inside the van and the fuel also was splashed around the interior.

Goldman said it is a “probable assumption” that the setup was meant to destroy the van and any evidence inside.

But Spokane Police Lt. Al Odenthal said Monday night that investigators found “items of interest” inside the maroon and white van.

Another source said Tuesday that fingerprints were lifted from the vehicle.

Pasenelli would not say what investigators found.

“The van was processed today and the evidence is being analyzed,” she said. “Looking for fingerprints is a routine part of that.”

An investigative task force includes FBI agents and bomb experts from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. They are working with city and county detectives.

FBI agents from San Francisco and Seattle flew to Spokane to assist agents assigned here.

A U.S. Bank official said the bombed branch may open as early as today, Thursday at the latest.

The inside of the bank sustained only minor damage, said Cindy Duryee, U.S. Bank vice president for public relations.

Duryee said three of the branch’s six teller stations were damaged along with some ceiling tiles and a light fixture.

An armed security guard patrolling the parking lot Tuesday said there also was shrapnel imbedded in the walls.

“I was in Vietnam. I’d compare it to a hand grenade blast,” said Kerry Wedwick of Central Washington Investigations.

The newspaper office was open Tuesday. Workers there replaced a door and several windows destroyed in the blast.

, DataTimes