Suspicious object near Bend prompts OSP bomb-squad visit

Someone out for a walk north of Bend spotted a piece of metal with some wires along Deschutes Market Road late Thursday morning and called 911, leading to a call-out of the Oregon State Police bomb squad from Salem.

Deschutes County sheriff’s Sgt. Shawn Heierrman said the citizen report came in around 11:45 a.m. from the 64000 block of Deschutes Market Road, near Pioneer Loop.

The suspicious item was described as “a piece of metal with some wires hanging out of it,” the sergeant said.

While deputies decided the object alongside the road did not require its closure, they called in the OSP Explosives Unit to safely remove it.

The unit arrived from Salem around 1:30 p.m. and moved the object away from the road, then “hit it with a projectile to see if it would detonate,” Heierman said. “It did not.”

The bomb squad put the item in a container and took it back to Salem with them for further investigation.