Spokane bomb squad recover homemade device at hospital

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — The Spokane Police Department Bomb Squad safely recovered a small homemade device that was discovered outside Providence Sacred Heart hospital on Thursday night.

The Spokesman-Review reports a concerned citizen found the device in area and brought it to Sacred Heart security near the emergency room just before 7 p.m., according to a Spokane Police Department statement.

Security cordoned off the area until police arrived to help maintain a perimeter around the ER entrance. The bomb squad was able to render the device safe, an SPD statement said.

Police said the device appeared to be a small pipe bomb that could have injured a person had it detonated nearby, however it was not large enough to damage hospital structure.

An investigation into the device is going. Police reminded citizens to report suspicious objects rather than move them.