Fake bomb found outside Kootenai Co. Sheriff’s office

Authorities say a suspicious device found outside the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department this morning was made to look like a bomb but was harmless. It was a road flare with a battery tucked inside it, attached to a phone, investigators said. The Spokane bomb squad investigated the object, found by an inmate on a work crew along North Government Way about 9:15 a.m. It was found at the southwest corner of the campus that includes the county jail, said sheriff’s Maj. Ben Wolfinger. The inmate picked it up and was told to put it back down by a supervising deputy, who then evacuated the inmate crew and called for help. Government Way was closed between Dalton and Kathleen streets as the bomb squad investigated.