Police tape surrounds the Centralia Post Office on the corner of South Silver Street and Centralia College Boulevard on Tuesday night. A suspicious suitcase in the post office lobby was reported earlier in the evening and local authorities called the Washington State Patrol to send down its bomb squad from Olympia.
Washington State Patrol bomb squad technician, Todd Thornburg, leaves the Centralia Post Office after removing a suspicious suitcase that was reported earlier Tuesday evening.
A suitcase left in the lobby of the Centralia Post Office prompted the temporary closure of part of Centralia College Boulevard Tuesday.
A technician from the Washington State Patrol’s bomb squad entered the building at about 7:45 p.m. and emerged moments later carrying an empty suitcase.
The surrounding streets were quickly reopened.
Centralia Police taped off the area shortly after responding to the report of the “suspicious” suitcase at the Post Office at about 5:02 p.m., according to Officer John Panco.
“We’re being cautionary, calling the experts that deal with this on a daily, weekly, monthly basis,” Panco said.
It’s the second time in recent weeks that a bomb squad has been called to Centralia. On April 22, a shoebox left in front of the police department at Centralia City Hall on Pearl Street prompted the temporary closure of North Pearl Street. WSP bomb squad personnel arrived, inspected the box and determined that it was empty.
