A man is facing charges in a case involving alleged bomb threats at a Starbucks.
According to KING5, a man has been charged with making bomb threats at a Starbucks.
What Washington Law Says About Bomb Threats
Whatever is eventually proven in court, the charge in the case falls under a state law that takes a hard line on this kind of threat. Under RCW 9.61.160, it is unlawful in Washington to threaten to bomb or otherwise injure a school, place of worship, public assembly, government property, building, common carrier, or any other structure used for human occupancy, or to knowingly spread false information about such a threat with intent to alarm people.
The statute is explicit that claiming the threat was a hoax is not a legal defense, according to the same chapter of state law. A violation is classified as a Class B felony, punishable under chapter 9A.20 RCW, the state code shows.
Not the First Bomb Scare at a Seattle Starbucks
A Seattle-area Starbucks drew a bomb-related response from police in September 2022. Seattle Police and the department's Arson/Bomb Squad shut down the area around the Starbucks Roastery on Capitol Hill to investigate a suspicious item, as reported by Capitol Hill Seattle News. Police at the time said two masked people had placed a suspicious package near the front door of a business.
That 2022 scare ended without incident: officers had the items removed and reopened the area around 8:15 a.m., and SPD confirmed the items were non-hazardous. Starbucks said at the time that all employees at the Roastery location were safe and that business was continuing as normal.
Police have also responded to other bomb threats around Seattle in recent years. In January 2021, police detained a man and secured the area during a downtown bomb threat, coordinating with federal partners from the FBI while detectives from the Arson and Bomb Squad examined a vehicle, according to the Seattle Police Department Blotter. In November 2023, officers responded after a business manager reported receiving a phone call in which someone claimed to have placed an incendiary device inside the business, per a separate SPD Blotter post.
