Bellingham man suspected of making bomb threat that forced Downtown Sounds evacuation
The Bellingham Police Department has arrested a man suspected of making a bomb threat that forced the evacuation of several hundred people from the Downtown Sounds concert event Wednesday evening.
Coltan James Powell, 31, was charged Friday, Aug. 6, in Whatcom County Superior Court with one count of felony threats to bomb or injure property and two counts of felony harassment (domestic violence). Powell made his first appearance in court Friday afternoon.
At approximately 7:57 p.m. Aug. 4, an employee at Bayou on the Bay restaurant received a call from an unknown caller, according to Whatcom County Superior Court documents filed Friday. The employee was unable to hear clearly what the caller wanted due to the noise from outside the restaurant from the nearby concert, and the caller hung up.
Approximately four minutes later, the employee received a second call from the unknown number, and the employee went into the restaurant’s bathroom to hear better, documents state. The caller confirmed that the Downtown Sounds was going on outside the restaurant and then reportedly told the employee that he had placed bombs at the nearby Black Sheep restaurant and Spark Museum and they were set to go off at 8:23 p.m.
Fire crews were called for the report of a bomb threat at 8:22 p.m. at 121 W. Prospect St., according to the Pulse Point app.
“We received a call of a bomb threat sufficiently credible that we began an evacuation of a one-block area in our downtown core,” Lt. Claudia Murphy told The Herald in an email at the time.
After 8:23 p.m. had passed and there had been no explosion, the Bellingham Hazardous Device Unit and an explosive detection K9 swept the area and determined the bomb threat to be a hoax, according to documents.
With the event featuring Nite Wave with Analog Brass scheduled to be over by 9 p.m., the event did not resume.
On Thursday, Aug. 5, police began to investigate the phone call the employee had received and tracked it to a number associated with Powell, documents state.
Powell had a recent documented pattern of behavioral health issues, according to court documents, including sending pictures of mutilated bodies to an employer he had recently been fired from as a threat and telling a family member he was going to go on a “killing spree.”
Another witness also contacted police Thursday to discuss safety concerns about Powell, documents state. The witness told police that he returned home from the concert to find Powell upset that the witness and another person had gone to Downtown Sounds without Powell and he admitted to making the bomb threat against the event. The next morning, Powell reportedly denied making the threat.
There were no reports of injuries due to the bomb threat or the evacuation, though multiple organizers, business owners and attendees reported being alarmed.
A Bellingham police SWAT and crisis negotiator team went to Powell’s residence in the 2600 block of Undine Street on Thursday, according to a city press release sent Friday evening. The crisis negotiation team reached Powell by phone, while the SWAT team gave Powell “constant, clear messages” from outside using a public address system, the city press release states.
Powell surrendered himself around midnight and was taken into custody, the release states. He was booked Friday into Whatcom County Jail.
Wednesday marked the first time the Downtown Bellingham Partnership hosted the event in 2021 after COVID-19 forced the summer concert series to go virtual in 2020 to raise funds for local music venues impacted by the pandemic.
“We are incredibly disheartened about the bomb threat that occurred during the first night of the Downtown Sounds music series,” Downtown Bellingham Partnership Executive Director Alice Clark told The Herald in an email Thursday, Aug. 5. “We were so proud and excited to bring a sense of normalcy and joy to our community by making the event happen this year, so having the threat happen and asking everyone to leave mid-way through the night was both scary and incredibly disappointing.
“That said, we’re determined to continue with the series and we look forward to bringing more music and celebration to the streets next week. We want to thank everyone for their support – it means a lot to us.”
This story was originally published August 6, 2021 at 7:48 AM.
