Courtesy of Joe Kuhn Joe Kuhn, who was a Marine, recounts his encounter with an arsonist: He was very focused. That s what worried me about him. I
t was like a bomb had gone off. When Joe Kuhn returned to what remained of the Spokane County Democrats offices in the Teamsters Building last Thursday, he was shocked by the sheer amount of damage. Flames had peeled paint off the doors. Ceiling tiles had collapsed. The copy machine had melted from the intensity of the heat. It was destroyed. The whole inside was gutted, says Kuhn, a 56-year-old Teamster. This guy clearly intended to burn the whole building down. He wasn t just trying to torch the office.
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The man who police say claimed to have a bomb and then lit a substantial fire at the Spokane County Democratic headquarters was after “elites” of any political party, he told investigators, according to a Spokane Police Department news release.
The people he actually encountered included a woman in her second day as a local Democratic volunteer and a member of the local truck Teamsters union.
Peter Yeager, 45, of Grand Coulee, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree arson, although Spokane Police Chief Craig Meidl said detectives are pursuing other charges.
At the local Democrats’ office, Yeager told several volunteers he had a bomb and one volunteer saw wires coming from his backpack, said Spokane County Democrats chair Nicole Bishop.