Bomb explodes at Woodburn bank , killing a police officer and OSP bomb technician .
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bomb explode woodburn bank kill police officer osp bomb technician
Bomb <m> explodes </m> at Woodburn bank , killing a police officer and OSP bomb technician .
Bomb <m> explodes </m> at Woodburn bank , killing a police officer and OSP bomb technician .
A bomb exploded Friday at a West Coast Bank branch in Woodburn , killing a Woodburn police officer and an Oregon State Police bomb squad technician , and critically injuring the Woodburn police chief .
The bomb detonated around 5:30 p.m. at the bank in the 2500 block of Oregon 214 .
The victims have been identified as Senior Trooper William Hakim of the Oregon State Police and Capt. Tom Tennant of the Woodburn Police Department , both described by colleagues this morning as dedicated professionals and family men .
Hakim is the second bomb technician to die in the line of duty in the history of the Oregon State Police , Hastings said. He leaves behind a wife and two children , a 16-year-old son and an 18-year-old daughter .
Tennant was promoted to captain four years ago .
He leaves behind a wife and three children , a 17-year-old son and two grown daughters .
Tennant 's longtime colleague , Woodburn police Sgt. Jason Tlusty , was visibly shaken as he described his friend and coworker this morning .
Courtesy of The Woodburn IndependentScott Russell , Woodburn Police Chief
Woodburn Police Chief Scott Russell received critical injuries and was taken to OHSU Hospital , according to OSP Lt. Gregg Hastings .
A hospital representative said Russell , a 20-year veteran of the department with two daughters , is in an intensive care unit this morning .
Hastings this morning announced that the ATF and FBI are offering a $ 35,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the individual responsible for the crime .
He described those responsible as `` very dangerous . ''
`` That person needs to be found as soon as possible , '' Hastings said during the somber press conference this morning .
A bank employee suffered non-life threatening injuries .
The other identities were not released .
Marion County deputy medical examiner Rodge Womack said police were concerned there might be a second bomb in the area ; police dogs and a robot were combing the area late into the night .
An undetermined number of people living within a block of the bank were evacuated from their homes Friday , and a quarter-mile area around the crime scene was cordoned off .
The bank had been evacuated before the bomb detonated , according to West Coast Bank Chief Executive Robert Sznewajs .
The branch has been there for at least 10 years , he said .
The blast came several hours after someone made a threatening phone call to Wells Fargo around 10:30 a.m. Oregon State Police , the FBI and Woodburn police responded to the call .
Police did not provide much detail about what transpired between then and 5:30 p.m. , when the bomb went off at West Coast Bank .
But according to Sznewajs , two bomb threats came into the two banks , which sit side by side on Oregon 214 .
Police responded to both , but it was an employee who found a suspicious device under the bushes outside West Coast bank .
Sznewajs told The Statesman Journal that his bank for a call `` from an unknown person saying that we should look for one as well .
We called authorities , but they looked and found nothing . ''
Sznewajs said that `` one of our people saw a device in the bushes around the branch and called authorities .
We looked at it and evacuated the branch and sent people away . ''
He said authorities decided to move the device inside the branch and apparently scanned it -- and then it went off .
Sznewajs said he did not know whether the bomb went off on its own or as a result of the technicians ' investigation .
After the blast , officers closed down a large swath of the commercial strip , populated by gas stations , fast food shops and strip malls .
Marion County Sheriff Russ Isham said the area will remain closed through the weekend , adding that he did not know if there could be additional bombs .
Police ask anyone with information to call the ATF at 800-800-3855 .
Investigators for the FBI and the ATF were dispatched to the scene .
Police said early today that a multi-agency investigation involving federal , state , county and city police agencies has begun to identify suspects .
The blast shook up area residents .
Bob Currie , 66 , a resident of Panor Senior Condominiums which overlooks the Wells Fargo branch , said that in the morning he saw a police car blocking the drive-up teller window and an FBI bomb technician checking a garbage can in the parking lot .
He said the Wells Fargo evacuated at 1:30 p.m. and he saw people leaving the bank from his balcony .
Later in the afternoon , `` I went back to my computer and all of a sudden heard this loud ka-boom . ''
T.J. Simons , 17 , who works at the 76 station on Oregon 214 about 500 feet from the bank , also heard the blast .
`` At first I thought it was thunder , until I saw all the cops showing up . ''
`` It sounded like somebody tossing a Dumpster off a three-story building , '' said Jan Olson , who was smoking on her deck in the nearby Evergreen Estates apartment complex .