Site search
sponsored by
News
ENLARGE
Roseburg Police Department Officer Mark Russell rolls a suspicious suitcase out of the Roseburg Post Office on Southeast Kane Street after the owner showed up to claim it. Police shut down the post office and evacuated the building after the unattended suitcase was found Tuesday around noon.
|
ENLARGE
|
Roseburg Police Department Sgt. Gregrey Fetsch responds to a suspicious suitcase found in the lobby of the Roseburg Post Office on Southeast Kane Street on Tuesday afternoon.
|
|
ENLARGE
|
Roseburg police respond to a suspicious suitcase found in the lobby of the Roseburg Post Office on Southeast Kane Street on Tuesday afternoon.
|
This story was updated at 3:30 p.m. The original story appears below.
After a three-hour closure following the discovery of a suspicious suitcase, the Roseburg Post Office has been reopened.Police removed the black suitcase on wheels at about 3 p.m. today after tracking down its owner, who apparently left it inside the building when she was mailing packages, police said.
The building had been evacuated shortly after noon as a safety precaution, and police blocked off Kane Street between Oak and Washington Avenues. Officials at a nearby bank also decided to evacuate.
Police were waiting for the Eugene Police Department bomb squad to arrive when they found the suitcase’s owner.
The woman, who had been waiting inside a Roseburg Fire Department special operations truck, declined to comment as she got in her car to leave with her suitcase.
Within moments of the yellow police tape coming down, vehicles filled the post office parking lot and a line of patrons formed inside.
================================================================
Original story: Roseburg Post Office evacuated, bomb squad summoned
The downtown Roseburg Post Office and a bank next door were evacuated this afternoon after an unattended suitcase was discovered in the post office lobby.A postal clerk found the suspicious item, which did not come through the mail, shortly after noon and notified Postmaster Jerry Copelin. After it was determined the suitcase didn’t belong to any postal customers, a decision was made to call police and evacuate the building.
“We notified the police and let them take it from there and take their advice,” Copelin said while standing at the corner of Southeast Kane Street and Southeast Washington Avenue, next to the loading zone at the north end of the post office property.
About a dozen customers and nine employees were led outside the building. Customers handled without complaint the news that the post office had to be closed, he said.
“They took it pretty good,” he said.
Kane Street between Washington and Southeast Oak avenues was blocked off by Roseburg Police Department patrol cars. Yellow police tape was strung up along the front entrance to the post office.
Officials from Premier West Bank south of the post office made the decision to close their building and evacuate employees.
No one phoned in a threat and no note was found with the package, Roseburg Police Sgt. Aaron Dunbar said. Although it’s not known whether the suitcase poses a threat, a bomb squad was called in from the Eugene Police Department to examine the case and decide what to do.
At 2 p.m., local officials were waiting for that team to arrive.
“With what happened last week at Woodburn, we want to be very cautious,” Dunbar said. “This is one of those situations where we’re not going to move the item.”
On Friday, Woodburn police Capt. Tom Tennant and Oregon State Police bomb technician William Hakim were killed when a bomb exploded after it was found at a branch of West Coast Bank. Woodburn Police Chief Scott Russell was also injured in the blast and is being treated at a Portland hospital.
Joshua A. Turnidge of Salem was later arrested and charged with aggravated murder. Police arrested a second suspect in that case today.
• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@nrtoday.com.
