Responders determined that unknown object was not a bomb.
MU seniors Ben Shetley and Jon Dinter were enjoying their first day of spring break with a quiet night at home. That was until a Columbia Fire Department chief knocked on their door asking them to evacuate immediately because of a suspicious device in the area.
Shetley and Dinter, along with an estimated 20 to 25 other residences near the 700 block of Rowe Lane, were evacuated from their homes about 8:15 p.m. Monday when police and fire officials feared a bomb was in the neighborhood, according to a Columbia Fire Department news release.
The device, reported at Columbia Fire Station Two by the homeowner where the device was found, was inspected by the Hazardous Device Unit and found to be a fake.
Shetley and Dinter, who live three houses from where the device was found, said there was nothing fake about the level of fear and uncertainty in the evacuation. After taking their two dogs and going to Show-Me’s restaurant, they returned to the neighborhood and asked police officers blocking traffic for more information, to no avail.
“They finally gave us permission to return home about 11 (p.m.), but until then everyone was a little nervous,” Dinter said.
A robot, on tracks and with an arm and camera, was used first to “conduct an unmanned recon of the possible device and area,” the release said.
The robot’s camera eye gave officers reason to believe the device was explosive. They then used the robot to “disrupt” the device — that is, the robot used a “water-shot” and then picked it up — before a Hazardous Device Unit technician in a bomb suit was sent to the area for “physical collection of evidence and confirmation of the legitimacy” of the device, the release said.
It was then the device was confirmed to be fake.
Gary Warren, Columbia Fire Department battalion chief, said officials had no reason to believe the device was targeted at that particular homeowner. Warren said he had only seen the device through the camera on the robot and could not comment on its makeup.
The Hazardous Device Unit is a joint effort by the Columbia Police and Fire departments initiated within the last year, according to Dean Martin, fire department division chief.
“It’s a new unit,” Martin said. “So it’s only been used a couple times.”
Shetley was surprised to see the emergency personnel in the family-oriented neighborhood.
“This has to be the most quiet street in the whole town,” he said.
By early afternoon Tuesday, it had returned to its peaceful nature — Shetley and Dinter were the only two to answer their door on the dead-end street.