Tacoma-Pierce County health department closes offices after threat made against employees

In response to a threat made toward Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department workers, the agency closed its offices Wednesday and asked employees to work remotely if possible.

In an email to The News Tribune, department spokesperson Kenny Via confirmed the organization closed its building on South D St. in Tacoma in response to threats against its employees. Via wrote, “We are working with law enforcement on this matter. You can find many of our services online. We post updates about closures on our website.”

The nature of the threat was not revealed.

According to Via, the department’s STD clinic, environmental health and vital records services would not be available in either in-person or virtual format. He said leadership decided to keep the building closed through Thursday but plans to resume operations Friday.

In addition to closing its offices, the department canceled two events scheduled for the day. Via wrote in his email that the Board of Health study session slotted for Wednesday has been scratched, and the department’s Twitter announced Wednesday morning that a COVID-19 vaccination event planned at the Asia Pacific Cultural Center would not take place.

In a phone call, Pierce County deputy executive Dan Grimm told The News Tribune the department called and left a message for County Executive Bruce Dammeier to let him know about the threat early Wednesday morning.

“The directive [to staff was] to not come to the office and to do work remotely if they could,” Grimm said.

When a News Tribune reporter went to the building Wednesday around noon, a security guard asked him to leave the property. He said that patrol officers would be coming by the offices soon.

According to Tacoma Police Department spokesperson Wendy Haddow, officers created a report on the incident and forwarded it to the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office.

Pierce County Council Chair Derek Young told The News Tribune in a phone call that because of the ongoing investigation, he did not want to talk about specifics details related to the incident. He did say that “the safety of our employees is of the utmost importance. Staff took the right steps in taking a potential threat seriously.”