Police Investigate Suspicious Devices In South Tulsa Street

Tulsa police shut down traffic between 61st and 71st Streets on Mingo Road about 4:30 p.m. on Sunday after finding what they believed to be multiple explosive devices in the area.

A woman called 911 at 4:25 p.m. to report what she thought was a "hand grenade" in the intersection at 71st and Mingo. When officers arrived, they found another suspicious-looking device about a mile away at 61st Street.

"Field troops came out and surveyed the area and they did see what they thought looked like hand grenades at both intersections," Sgt. Jacob Thompson said.

Within minutes, the intersections were blocked off and TPD's bomb squad was in action.

"They set up a good parameter, a safe parameter, to make sure the citizens are not in harm's way and called … the bomb squad out, so we could analyze and see what it may be," Thompson said.

After analyzing the explosive devices, police learned the suspicious devices were actually fireworks designed to look like grenades.

Officers said it's a serious violation to use fireworks in that manner.

"People who set off hoax devices like this in the middle of intersections in the City of Tulsa, we do prosecute those," Thompson said. "We collected evidence and we'll run a case and we'll try to find who did this and make sure they're prosecuted for it."

Investigators said the fake hand grenades looked like the real deal and things could have turned out much worse.

"Everything that was a hazard is removed and is no longer a hazard and it's safe," Thompson said. "The officers did the right thing. The concerned citizen did the right thing."

Streets were opened up about 6:30 p.m.

No injuries were reported.

Authorities are checking out surveillance videos from nearby businesses to find the person or persons who left the fireworks in the street.

If you have any information, call CrimeStoppers at 918-596-COPS.