Two North Side Malls Evacuated

Two north Spokane malls were partially evacuated Thursday after brown packages tied with twine were found on benches inside both shopping centers at about the same time, police said.

The “suspicious” packages were spotted by employees at NorthTown and Franklin Park malls.

Authorities closed off large areas of both malls and called in the bomb squad.

“Whoever left them, they definitely caught our attention,” said police Lt. Al Odenthal. “It turned out that each package had nothing but nondescript household items.”

The first package was discovered at 1:30 p.m. in the northeast corner of NorthTown, on the ground floor.

Both floors in the area were evacuated, and 10 stores had to close for more than two hours.

“It was just suspicious that such a package would be sitting out in the open like that,” said Sherry Burton, NorthTown marketing director.

About an hour later, police were alerted to a similar abandoned package at Franklin Park.

Shoppers there were allowed back in some stores at 4:35 p.m. Other shops closed for the day, sending employees home. , DataTimes