Bank Robbed After Diversion Bombing of Clinic, Officials Say

A bank was robbed a few minutes after a pipe bomb damaged a Planned Parenthood office Friday in an incident that resembled another bank robbery-bombing in April.

No one was at the Planned Parenthood office, which was closed, and no injuries were reported, authorities said.

The bomb exploded outside the front door of the clinic, scattering glass, said sheriff’s spokesman Lt. David Wiyrick. The explosion caused extensive damage to the clinic’s lobby.

As in April, it appeared the bomb was set off to divert attention from the bank robbery, officials said.

“This was very similar to the April incident,” Wiyrick said. “We have not confirmed it is the same group, obviously, but we’re looking at it.”

A few minutes after the bomb went off, a group of people armed with shotguns entered a nearby U.S. Bank branch--the same one robbed in April. The bank was about two miles from the clinic.

The robbers took an undisclosed amount of money and fled in a white van, police said. Witnesses at both the clinic and the bank reported seeing men wearing camouflage clothing and ski masks in the van.

A van matching the description of the getaway vehicle was found abandoned a few minutes after the robbery in the parking garage of a nearby shopping center, police said.

Sandra Meicher, executive director of Planned Parenthood of Spokane and Whitman counties, said the clinic had received no threats.

The federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was on the scene Friday. Officials for ATF and the FBI did not immediately return phone calls seeking additional information.

On April 1, men in ski masks and military-style fatigues robbed the bank and set off a small bomb minutes after another pipe bomb exploded outside a satellite office of The Spokesman-Review newspaper of Spokane. No one was injured, and no arrests have been made.

No bomb was found inside the bank on Friday.