Bottle blast injures bus driver at Redmond school

REDMOND — A plastic soda bottle exploded early Monday in a Redmond elementary school parking lot, injuring a school bus driver before students arrived, officials said.

The driver appeared to suffer minor wounds from plastic shrapnel and was taken to a hospital, Lake Washington School District spokeswoman Kathryn Reith said.

A second person was taken to a hospital as a precaution for exposure to chemicals from the 2-liter bottle, sheriff’s Sgt. DB Gates said.

It was unclear why the bottle was in the lot at Emily Dickinson Elementary School or why it exploded as the bus driver walked by, Reith said.

The incident occurred more than an hour before classes began. Two buses were in the parking lot during a layover after delivering middle school students.

The elementary school was closed for the day for a bomb squad sweep.

Nearby Evergreen Middle School was put in a modified lockdown to keep kids inside while deputies also searched that campus for bottle bombs.

The device was an acid bomb, commonly made by juveniles with household chemicals, the sheriff’s office said.