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Tuesday, June 18, 2013 | 7:33 p.m.

Updated: 6:12 p.m. Tuesday, March 31, 2009 | Posted: 9:16 a.m. Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Game Causes Bomb Threat, Evacuations



FIFE, Wash. —

Fife police said a hoax bomb that caused evacuations and brought multiple law enforcement agencies to a Costco store in Fife Tuesday morning was the result of a game between friends.

Fife patrol Cmdr. Tim Floyd said the bomb scare started when a box with the words, "Bomb. You're Dead," was found in the Costco parking lot by a FedEx driver at 8:22 a.m. Floyd said the box made a "chirping" sound when approached. RAW VIDEO: Robot Blows Up Suspicious Package

A bomb squad, agents from the Department of Tobacco, Alcohol, Firearms and Explosives, Fife police and FBI agents responded.

About 85 people evacuated the Costco and other surrounding businesses while a bomb disposal robot destroyed the package, which contained a motion sensor and some batteries.

Meanwhile, back at the Fife Police Department Headquarters, a man in his 30s walked in and said, "I think you want to talk to me. I think that thing going on over (at the Costco) is about me," Floyd said. VIDEO BACKSTORY: Bomb Scare Turns Into Hoax

Floyd said the man explained that he and several friends play a game in which they are given missions to assassinate one another. According to the man's account, the group will ordinarily use dart guns to complete their "mission."

On Tuesday, however, the man decided to take the game "to the next level," and fashioned a phony bomb with a motion detector and then used magnets to attach it to a friend's car that was parked outside the Costco where the friend works, Floyd said.

The man said the device apparently fell off the car and landed in a nearby flowerbed where it was spotted by the FedEx truck driver who then called police.

Floyd said the man was arrested and will be charged with a felony; and for the police, FBI, ATF and emergency units responding as well as the people evacuated during the bomb scare, "this was no game."

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