Grants Pass, Ore. — Several Grants Pass residents are home safe and sound after being evacuated from a potential bomb threat Wednesday afternoon. Police say it was tied to the arrest of a bank robbery suspect.
“There was so much commotion and so many cops I couldn’t really tell what was going on,” according to neighbor Stacie Hopkins.
She says it was a day like any other until she heard yelling and screeching tires outside her house.
“I thought, ‘well maybe the neighbors are fighting’ or I don’t know what’s going on. When I walked out, all I saw was cops,” Hopkins said.
Unmarked units had been called to the area after a citizen told police that Cedar Yandell was in a blue van, parked on Spruce street. Yandell is a suspect in an armed bank robbery from just two days before.
“Mr. Yandell was in the backseat of a van and was trying to disguise himself with a wig,” explained Lieutenant Todd Moran with Grants Pass Department of Public Safety.
After Yandell was arrested, police searched the rest of the van. That’s when officers found what looked like a pipe bomb.
“It was a pipe, essentially with end caps,” Lt. Moran said.
Police evacuated six homes along the street, including Hopkins’.
“They said they were evacuating the whole block because they thought there might be a bomb,” Hopkins said.
Fortunately for Hopkins and the other neighbors, the Oregon State Police bomb squad quickly discovered that it wasn’t an explosive.
“Inside was actually a device used for the manufacturing of butane honey oil – a marijuana extraction type of device,” described Lt. Moran.
A few hours later, Hopkins was home. An unusual situation over, giving way to the usual routine.
“Come home, make dinner…” Hopkins said.
Neighbors in the area say they have no idea why the van was in their neighborhood in the first place.
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