Michigan man claiming bomb, drives pickup into Coast Guard station

[February 09, 2015]  By Karen Brooks
 
 (Reuters) - A Michigan man claiming to have a bomb drove his truck through the gates of a U.S. Coast Guard station on Lake Michigan early Sunday, according to police and media reports.

The 34-year-old suspect told authorities that he had an explosive device and would blow up the station, but no explosives were found when he was arrested at the scene, according to the Grand Haven Department of Public Safety.

"The incident was initially investigated as a potential act of domestic terrorism due to the circumstances," a police statement reads. "The investigation has not revealed any link to terrorism or a terrorist organization."

The man's motives remain under investigation, police said.

The attack on the Coast Guard station in Grand Haven, about 190 miles (306 km) northwest of Detroit, began around 6 a.m. ET (1100 GMT) on Sunday, when the man called in his threat to emergency dispatchers, according to an official at Ottawa County's central dispatch, which took the call.

The man then rammed the gates and entered the station, assaulting personnel inside, according to the Grand Haven police statement. Coast Guard personnel subdued him and he was arrested by police shortly after, police said.

The man has been linked to a fire earlier at a residence in Oceana County, about 50 miles from the station, Grand Haven police said. The location is reportedly where the man lived, and was heavily damaged in the fire, according to a report by television station WZZM.

(Reporting by Karen Brooks in Austin, Texas)

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