BLUEFIELD, WV (WVNS)– On Monday morning, August 22, 2022, local and state police along with their bomb squad division responded to the Elizabeth Kee Federal Building in Courthouse in Bluefield, West Virginia where there were reports of an explosive device near the building.

Detective Kenneth Adams with the Bluefield Police Department gave more detail on what happened.

“We had an individual that had went to the federal building asked to speak with a US Marshal there, advised that he had an explosive device. The marshal was actually able to get him in custody at that time. Our officers responded, took custody of the individual, and transferred him to the police department,” Adams said.

The suspect was named later at a press conference at Bluefield City Hall.

James D. Fowler of Bluefield was arrested and charged with two counts of possession of hoax bombs, one count false report, and two counts of terroristic threats.

He will be arraigned and taken to Southern Regional Jail.

Detective Adams said even if you don’t know if it’s real, you still treat it as a real thing.

“When you have an explosive device depending on how it’s made it can do a lot of damage it can go a long ways it can hurt a lot of people so the main thing is getting everyone out of that blast radius get them away from it as soon as possible,” Adams said.