Bomb scare closes Central Avenue in Bentonville

BENTONVILLE — A man headed to court stashed his backpack containing drug paraphernalia underneath a van in a nearby parking lot Thursday, setting off a bomb scare that closed downtown’s East Central Avenue for an hour, police said.

Keshia Guyll, spokeswoman for the Benton County Sheriff’s Office, said a call came in about 1:10 p.m. The street reopened about 2:14 p.m.

Officers from the Bentonville Police Department, including its Bomb Squad, and Sheriff’s Office deputies blocked the streets around the parking lot on Central Avenue. The lot is south of the County Administration Building, 215 E. Central Ave.

Police evacuated the south side of the administration building and houses on Southeast Second Street that back up to the parking lot, Guyll said. Once the bomb squad arrived, officers pushed back onlookers who had been across the street in the administration parking

lot. A bomb squad member was able to move the backpack from underneath the car.

A county employee eating lunch alerted deputies after she saw a man stash something under a van, then leave, Guyll said.

The man who dropped the backpack was already in custody on another charge before deputies started looking for him in connection with the bomb scare, Guyll said. The man, late for court nearby, later told deputies he thought the van was his grandfather’s.

Deputies identified him from security footage, Guyll

said. Authorities hadn’t released his name Thursday night.

Deputies found drug paraphernalia in the bag and a full syringe they plan to test for drugs. It was unknown Thursday night if the man would face any charges in connection with the incident.

The van belongs to Stephanie Laputz, Quorum Court coordinator. Laputz, who works in the County Clerk’s Office on the second floor of the administration building, first heard of the incident indirectly.

“The maintenance people for the building came and asked me if I was driving a van,” she said. “I went outside and Sgt. Larry Hockenberry talked to me and asked me if it was my van. He said there was a package under it and asked me if we put a package or anything under it. I said ‘No.’ They took my information and made me leave.”

Jazmyn Campbell of Bentonville was next to her car in the south parking lot waiting for a friend when deputies started to cordon the area. She saw a white, unmarked law enforcement vehicle stop traffic at Southeast B Street. An officer asked if she could move her car, Campbell said. She moved it to another downtown lot.

Campbell waited for more than an hour to get back to her vehicle, but said she wasn’t worried that anything would happen.

“I felt like, ‘God’s got this,’” she said.

NWA Democrat-Gazette/BEN GOFF • @NWABENGOFF A member of Bentonville’s Bomb Squad investigates a suspicious package Thursday in the parking lot south of the Benton County Courthouse and Administration Building in Bentonville. Police determined a backpack placed under a black van wasn’t hazardous.

NWA Democrat-Gazette/BEN GOFF • @NWABENGOFF Deputy Joe Pruitt (left) and Sgt. Larry Hockenberry with the Benton County Sheriff’s Office look over contents Thursday of a backpack found in the parking lot south in Bentonville. Police said the backpack contained drug paraphernalia and a suspected controlled substance.