Bomb squad investigates explosive device

Colorado Springs police reopened part of a neighborhood late Thursday afternoon where an explosive device was found at around 12:30 p.m.

Police first described the device as suspicious but later determined it was a small homemade explosive device.

Police closed Tremont Street between Fillmore and Taylor streets for most of the afternoon, closed Fillmore at Taylor for about an hour and sealed off the Hyde Park Apartments on Tremont. A Dairy Queen near the Fillmore/Tremont intersection was temporarily evacuated.

A crew from Griffith Landscaping found the device while picking up trash in the area. The landscapers told KRDO NewsChannel 13 that they put the device in the back of the truck and opened it later on. They thought it was suspicious and called police.

“When I first saw it, I thought it was an auto part or an electronics part,” said landscaper Marvin Owens. “As we peeled it down, I saw that it was a cylinder and had certain things taped to it.”

The Colorado Springs Bomb Squad responded to the scene. They placed the device in a container and moved it to Clear Springs Ranch, a training area at Fort Carson, where it was detonated. The affected area reopened by 6 p.m.

The device was discovered in nearly the same spot where Oscar Frias, 34, was found shot to death last September. Residents wondered if there is some connection between the two incidents, but police have not established a link nor released more details about the device.