Police say this all started shortly after 8:00am this morning. Everything's contained now.I'm bumping this back up to the top of the page because of the billion updates since the original post.

Police have shut down around 3rd Ave between James and Yesler and are moving staff out of nearby buildings after, according to police, a man with a suspicious device strapped to his hand made "general threats" in the area.

Police are in contact with the man, who appears to have what police on scene described as a "pipe bomb."

We're still working to get more info, but that's what we've got right now. More coming soon.

Update 1: Police have the man in custody and has been "rendered safe." Police are still examining the device. 

Update 2: 3rd Ave is still closed between Yesler and James.

Update 3: KIRO has a great picture of the man, who appears to have electrical tape wrapped around his legs and waist.

Update 4: Police are looking into whether another incident last night near 3rd and Yesler might be connected with this morning's events. More details soon.

Update 5 @ 9:53: sounds like police are working to get 3rd back open soon.

Update @ 9:54: Street is now open to pedestrians. You suckers in cars are stuck for the time being though.

Update @ 10:16: SPD has posted a photo of the device on their Blotter, along with this description: "It is a metal pipe with metal endcaps on both sides.  There is tape on this device and what appears to be protruding wires."

Update @ 10:22: 3rd Ave's back open.

Thanks to everyone who sent in photos!

Update @ 10:36: King County just sent out this letter to employees working near 3rd/Yesler. Nothing earthshaking in it, but here it is:

Dear King County Employee: 

As you may know, the King County Courthouse was placed under lockdown this morning. The situation is under control now, but we would like to let you know what happened. Just before 9 a.m. a suspect on the sidewalk outside of the Courthouse at the corner of Third and James claimed to have an explosive device. While the Seattle Police Department, SWAT team and ATF responded to the situation, we felt it was necessary to place the Courthouse on lockdown, and evacuate all of the Western-facing floors of the building. The situation was resolved quickly and the suspect was taken into custody. 

I would like to thank you for your professional and fast response to the lockdown and subsequent evacuation notice. I understand that situations like this can be stressful, and our security staff appreciate your calm response and how quickly you followed evacuation procedures.

The Courthouse has been reopened, and the evacuation order has been lifted. Please know that we do not interrupt your work day like this lightly, and will only move quickly to announce lockdowns and evacuations when we know there is a credible threat to your safety. Thank you again for your patience this morning.

Sincerely,

Kathy Brown

Facilities Management Division Director

Update @ 10:48: Police are investigating a possible connection to a similar threat call in SoDo last night. Still working to get more details, but we've confirmed that the bomb squad was notified about threats made in the area around the stadiums. We'll update when we've got more info.

Final update (or is it????):

SPD just put out a statement on the incident. What a day.

On March 12th, at approximately 8:11 AM,  a complainant called 911 to report that a black male dressed in black clothing had entered a local mission in the 300 Block of 2nd Avenue Ext. South and threatened to blow the place up.  The suspect had a suspicious looking device taped to his wrist and had covered himself with black duct tape.  According to the complainant, the suspect walked in wanting to be served breakfast.  He informed the staff that he was a vampire and wanted to eat people.  The staff declined to serve him and asked him to leave.  At that point, the suspect said he was a space cowboy and showed them what appeared to be a pipe bomb taped to his wrist.  He threatened to blow up the building. Staff at the mission was able to usher the man out of the building.  When officers arrived at the location the suspect had already left.   Officers conducted an area search for the man and located him standing in a doorway in the 500 Block of 3rd Avenue.  SWAT had also responded to the scene and were present when the suspect was located.  Officers gave verbal commands to the suspect to lie down, which he did.  Officers then directed the suspect to remove the item that was taped from his arm.  Officers provided the suspect with surgical scissors which he used to cut the tape used to secure the device.  Once the device was free from his arm, the suspect was taken into custody without incident.  The Arson/Bomb detectives then took custody of the device, which appeared to be a metal pipe with endcaps.  The suspect was taken into custody at 9:19 AM, just over 1 hour after the original call.  By 10:02 AM the streets were reopened.  The 33 year old suspect was then transported to the West Precinct where he was interviewed by detectives.  The suspect will be booked later into the King County Jail for Threats to Bomb.

Return of the Living Update: SPD says the pipe-and-tape contraption our vampiric friend was carrying was not in fact a bomb. People 1, Vampires 0.