Joshua Turnidge, left, stands with his attorney Steven L. Krasik as he is arraigned in Marion County Court in Salem, Ore., on charges related to a bank bombing in Woodburn on Friday that killed two law enforcement officers and critically injured a third. (AP Photo) |
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The Associated Press
SALEM, Ore. — Court documents show two law enforcement officers killed in a bank bombing last week in Oregon believed the device was a hoax and were trying to open it when it exploded.
A probable cause statement in the case of bombing suspect Joshua Turnidge says Oregon State Police Senior Trooper William Hakim inspected and X-rayed a green metal box found Friday outside the West Coast Bank building in Woodburn.
The document says Hakim was confident it was a hoax device, so he took it inside.
The statement says a bank employee saw Hakim trying to open it while Woodburn Capt. Tom Tennant held it, and then it exploded.
Hakim and Tennant were killed. Woodburn Police Chief Scott Russell was critically injured. The bank employee was treated at Salem Hospital and released.