Police dismantle bomb in Bellevue bank

Traffic in the center of downtown Bellevue was at a standstill and several buildings were evacuated today while police disabled a possible pipe bomb left by a suspected bank robber. No one was injured.

Police received an alarm call at about 10:40 a.m. at Washington Mutual in the 10500 block of Northeast Eighth Street. When officers arrived, they saw a man in his 30s walking in the parking lot with a bag of money and a backpack, according to Bellevue police spokesman Greg Grannis.

As they arrested the man at gunpoint, the man told the officers that he had a pipe bomb in his backpack. Officers used an x-ray to confirm that there was something suspicious in the backpack. The police bomb squad was called in and used a robot to disable the device just after noon, police said.

During the incident, several streets around the bank were closed. Several buildings were evacuated, including most of Bellevue Place, several floors of the Hyatt Regency, the Paccar building, Bank of America and Maggiano's restaurant.