Seattle police who executed a search warrant for an abandoned van near a series of fires over the weekend recovered pyrotechnics, weapons and riot gear believed to have been used during protests in the area, authorities announced.
During Saturday’s “big rally” in the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, a crowd set fire to construction trailers and damaged cars and businesses before heading to the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct, police said Wednesday. night.
But when the crowd headed toward the compound shortly before 4:30 p.m., a van followed and parked in front of the police building. She was looking in the wrong direction in a traffic lane, and then abandoned, authorities said.
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“At approximately the same time, explosions occurred outside the compound,” the press release said. “People in the crowd threw explosives at officers. An explosion occurred along the north wall of the compound (on Pine Street), which made a hole in the wall of the building. “
A witness told police that people had surrounded the truck earlier in the day, while its back doors were open, to display “makeshift shields, gas masks, baseball bats, and a wide variety of pyrotechnic explosives inside the truck, “authorities said.
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After searching the vehicle, police said they found the following items inside, among others:
- fireworks pyrotechnics
- improvised strips and nails
- bear mace
- Gas mask
- home shields
- helmets, shin guards and additional types of body armor
On Wednesday, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan told reporters that police have “an obligation to disperse a crowd when there are public safety hazards such as explosives, fires, people with the intent to cause harm,” according to the local affiliate Q13 Fox Seattle.
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“I think what we saw in our city last week in three separate protests, that there were people who tried to cause harm. And the seized items from this truck show exactly what they were planning, they saw the results on our street,” Durkan said. According to reports, said.
Police arrested at least 45 people as a result of Saturday’s protests and 59 officers were injured, KOMO News reported.
The Seattle Police Department also released photos and videos of the contraband, as well as the damage apparently caused by the explosive.
The department is still investigating its findings.
