|
|
|
A bomb threat relating to Shawnee’s child support office resulted in police shutting down several downtown city blocks Thursday morning, but within two hours of that threatening call, police had secured and cleared the area and tracked down the suspect in Missouri. No bomb was found.
Arrested on a complaint of making a telephone bomb threat was Carl Grande, 50, of Shawnee, said Shawnee Police Lt. Mason Wilson. He was being held in a Missouri jail Thursday night on $50,000 bond.
Wilson said a phone call made to the state’s child support division line through DHS offices ended with the man threatening to blow up the child support office. Through the conversation, Wilson said the man talked about his case so the worker knew his identity.
Since the man resides in Shawnee but also has a case working through the Chickasha child support office, “two state agencies were shut down” to assess the situation, Wilson said.
The threat was that he was going to bring a Ryder moving truck by the child support office and blow up the building, an arrest affidavit shows. Shawnee’s child support office is located in the office building at 130 N. Broadway, across the street from Shawnee City Hall.
Because of the threat, authorities converged to that area and shut down all roadways from 10th to Main Street and from Broadway to Beard Street, Wilson said, with no traffic being allowed in that area. Nearby businesses were notified about the situation and it was up to them if their employees wanted to leave the area, he said. Sharpshooters also took position on the roof of the Arvest Bank, he said, and District Attorney Richard Smothermon shut down the child support office.
Since the threat involved some type of truck being brought to the area, police focused efforts on finding the man by checking his home address in Shawnee.
“We focused the operation on tracking him down,” he said.
When that search turned up nothing, Shawnee Police Officer James Wood, a crisis negotiator, began calling the man’s cell phone, Wilson said.
An affidavit shows Grande told Wood he had spoken with the child support division but they would not help him with his problem.
“He also stated that he did threaten to blow the building up,” the warrant reads, further stating that at the time of the phone call, he was operating a tractor-trailer rig for his job in the state of Missouri.
A bomb threat relating to Shawnee’s child support office resulted in police shutting down several downtown city blocks Thursday morning, but within two hours of that threatening call, police had secured and cleared the area and tracked down the suspect in Missouri. No bomb was found.
Arrested on a complaint of making a telephone bomb threat was Carl Grande, 50, of Shawnee, said Shawnee Police Lt. Mason Wilson. He was being held in a Missouri jail Thursday night on $50,000 bond.
Wilson said a phone call made to the state’s child support division line through DHS offices ended with the man threatening to blow up the child support office. Through the conversation, Wilson said the man talked about his case so the worker knew his identity.
Since the man resides in Shawnee but also has a case working through the Chickasha child support office, “two state agencies were shut down” to assess the situation, Wilson said.
The threat was that he was going to bring a Ryder moving truck by the child support office and blow up the building, an arrest affidavit shows. Shawnee’s child support office is located in the office building at 130 N. Broadway, across the street from Shawnee City Hall.
Because of the threat, authorities converged to that area and shut down all roadways from 10th to Main Street and from Broadway to Beard Street, Wilson said, with no traffic being allowed in that area. Nearby businesses were notified about the situation and it was up to them if their employees wanted to leave the area, he said. Sharpshooters also took position on the roof of the Arvest Bank, he said, and District Attorney Richard Smothermon shut down the child support office.
Since the threat involved some type of truck being brought to the area, police focused efforts on finding the man by checking his home address in Shawnee.
“We focused the operation on tracking him down,” he said.
When that search turned up nothing, Shawnee Police Officer James Wood, a crisis negotiator, began calling the man’s cell phone, Wilson said.
An affidavit shows Grande told Wood he had spoken with the child support division but they would not help him with his problem.
“He also stated that he did threaten to blow the building up,” the warrant reads, further stating that at the time of the phone call, he was operating a tractor-trailer rig for his job in the state of Missouri.
Through the phone call, authorities were attempting to locate him by tracking his cell phone. Wilson said police also contacted his employer to use the tractor-trailer rig’s GPS to find his exact location.
That effort allowed local authorities to contact Missouri State Police, who were able to track down the rig he was driving on U.S. 71 south of Joplin, where Missouri authorities conducted a traffic stop and detained him for investigation, Wilson said.
As the morning of events unfolded, Smothermon and his task force, along with several employees from Shawnee City Hall, were among those helping make rounds to notify downtown businesses in the immediate area of the bomb threat, Wilson said.
“Our primary concern was the safety of individuals in the area,” Wilson said.
While Smothermon said he couldn’t comment specifically on Grande’s business with the child support office, “Clearly there is an active child support case in our office,” he said.
As the events unfolded during the response Thursday morning, there were reports determined to be unrelated involving a stolen truck downtown, Wilson said, and police also checked a parked U-Haul truck in a lot behind the Aldridge.
Smothermon said the entire operation was a great show of teamwork. Within two hours of the initial threatening call, snipers were in place, buildings were cleared, a four-block section of downtown was secured and the subject was identified and found in another state.
“It was an impressive display of police tactics,” Smothermon said, adding everyone was glad there was no bomb or evidence of such found.
“We can’t not take it seriously — the minute we don’t is when one is intent on doing harm,” Smothermon said.
As part of the investigation, police served a search warrant on Grande’s home in the 500-block of North McKinley Thursday afternoon to search for any possible bomb-making materials, but none were found.
Formal charges have not been filed in the case. If Grande waives extradition, he’ll be brought back to Oklahoma at that time. If not, extradition proceedings will be required to bring Grande back to Oklahoma to face any possible charges that could be filed in relation to this incident.
Shawnee police had assistance from the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office, Citizen Potawatomi Nation police and the district attorney’s Violent Crimes and Drug Task Force. Wilson said the Inspector General with Oklahoma DHS also is involved in the case because of the threats made.
Watch for any updates.
