Bend ‘hand grenade’ turns out to be bicycle lock

The Deschutes Public Library in downtown Bend was evacuated and adjacent roads closed late Thursday morning after someone found what looked like a hand grenade — but it turned out to be a bicycle lock fashioned to look like such a device, police said.

Sgt. Dan Ritchie said a woman found the item in bushes on the west side of the building — “it probably fell out of someone’s backpack” — then put it in an outside garbage can and reported the discovery to police.

“We just evacuated everybody, to make sure we didn’t have anybody at risk,” Ritchie said. Police also closed a block of Wall Street between Kansas and Louisiana avenues and the adjacent streets.

An explosives expert was called in and was able to determine it was not a dangerous object, but a bike lock instead. The road and library reopened shortly after noon.