SALEM, Ore. — The father of a Salem man accused of killing two Oregon law-enforcement officers in a bank explosion was arrested Tuesday, and authorities said the two law-enforcement officers killed in the blast thought the bomb was a hoax and were trying to open it when it detonated.
Bruce Turnidge, 57, faces charges of conspiracy to manufacture and possess an explosive device.
His son, 32-year-old Joshua Turnidge, appeared in court Tuesday on charges that include aggravated murder in Friday’s explosion at the West Coast Bank in Woodburn. The charge carries a potential death penalty.
Officers arrested his father at a farm about 13 miles southwest of Salem, where Joshua lives.
The blast killed Senior State Trooper William Hakim and a Woodburn officer, Capt. Tom Tennant. It critically injured Woodburn Police Chief Scott Russell.
A probable-cause statement said that Friday morning, a man called in a bomb threat to Woodburn’s Wells Fargo Bank, next door to the West Coast Bank branch. The man said a cellphone would be found next to a garbage can and he would give further instructions on it. The man also said he would be calling the West Coast Bank.
Local police officers arrived at the Wells Fargo building, opened a garbage bin and spotted a cellphone on top of what appeared to be a package. Hakim and an FBI bomb technician examined the package and determined it was a hoax device.
Woodburn police searched the area and spotted a green metal box next to the West Coast Bank building.
Hakim, Tennant and Russell arrived at the West Coast Bank. After Hakim inspected and X-rayed the green box, he said he was “confident that it was a hoax device and that it could be taken apart to be placed into evidence.” The statement says a bank employee saw Hakim trying to open the box while Tennant held it when the bomb exploded.
