Sheriff’s bomb squad called to deal with suspicious package at Santa Rosa apartment complex

The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office bomb squad neutralized a “suspicious device” Saturday evening within the West Oaks apartment complex on the 2500 block of Guerneville Road, according to Santa Rosa police.

Police said an area resident discovered the device while landscaping in his yard and police responded to the scene at 5:24 p.m. A police officer thought it might be an explosive device.

The device was buried in the ground for “quite some time,” there were roots wrapped around it and the cloth casing was partially deteriorated, police said. The package was about 16 inches long by 5 inches wide.

The sheriff’s bomb squad was called in, and police cordoned off the area for about 50 minutes. The bomb squad “rendered the device safe using water and ceramic rounds, which were fired at the device from a close distance,” according to a police press release.

Police said the suspicious package was an “improvised explosive” but that because the device was destroyed, no further information about its origin or content was available.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @renofish.