On Wednesday June 14th the Junction City Police Department received a report of a suspicious backpack left abandoned leaning against the corner of the building housing the St. Vincent DePaul retail store located at 333 Ivy St. in Junction City. The employee calling 911 was given instructions to evacuate the building via the store’s back door. The first officer arrived at 3:47 PM to find a black colored medium-sized backpack leaning against the north corner of the glass entry way. A secure perimeter around the St. Vincent’s’ store was established and bomb technicians from the Oregon State Police and the FBI responded from Salem, as the Eugene police bomb squad was unavailable. Junction City police sent pictures of the backpack to the bomb technicians while they were enroute to the scene. After reviewing the photos the technicians felt the pack posed viable threat and instructed the on-scene officers not to approach it. Upon arrival, the bomb technicians attempted to x-ray the pack but were unable to acquire definitive films. For safety reason the technicians made the decision to detonate the device in-place at 6:06 PM. After the pack was rendered safe it was determined the contents were nothing more than school books and toys. Although this situation ended safely with the bag containing nothing dangerous, the employees reporting the incident are to be commended for taking the immediate and decisive action to call 911 and then for calmly following the dispatcher’s directions to evacuate the building. This could just as easily have been a real bomb. Citizens are urged to always be vigilant and pay close attention to circumstances that are unusual from normal patterns. Persons encountering unattended or out-of-place parcels, bags, or other containers are cautioned to never touch the item and to immediately call 911. People should remain at least 300 feet in all directions from such items.
