School emptied after mystery device found

An abandoned science experiment left inside a boy’s bathroom Wednesday at Lewis and Clark High School on Wednesday triggered an immediate evacuation and police bomb squad response.

The science project was a problem-solving device in which PVC pipe and ropes were used, said Spokane police Cpl. Tom Lee. The item was found by some students who then contacted administration.

After faculty inspected it, police and fire officials were called to the school on Fourth Avenue near downtown.

The nearly 2,000 students were bused to the Spokane Arena while bomb technicians investigated the item found at the school and eventually destroyed the science experiment.

Two more similar devices were found in a science classroom, said Spokane Public Schools spokeswoman Terren Roloff. The foot-long cylindrical item looks much like a pipe bomb.

The incident began about 12:40 p.m., Roloff said. Classes and after-school activities at the high school were canceled for the remainder of the day.

Rumors about the device and where it was located quickly spread among students waiting at the Arena, where parents and relatives were arriving to pick them up.

Some students said they heard it was a pipe bomb, and others said it was a package taped to a bathroom sink. Also, “at first everyone was saying someone pulled the fire alarm to get out of school,” said Katie Pattison, 14.

While the incident turned out to be a reaction to a nonthreatening device, cooperation by police, fire and school officials resulted in a successful drill for all involved, Roloff said.

School was expected to resume this morning as usual.