Suspect in Deadly Bank Blast Identified

The explosion Friday at the Woodburn bank led to the death of Oregon State Police Senior Trooper William Hakim and Woodburn Police Captain Tom Tennant.

(SALEM, Ore.) - Oregon's NBC affiliate in Portland KGW is reporting the name of the person believed to be responsible for the deaths of two police officers during a bank explosion in Woodburn.

32-year old Joshua Turnidge, named as bomb suspect, was arrested Sunday night at his NE Salem home.

The TV station reports that he had moved into the rental earlier this month with his girlfriend and 2 kids.

An unidentified man at an address associated with that company said, "I didn't have any bombs or anything else so that is what I am going to say. Conversation over, have a nice day."

It is not clear what charges Turnidge is facing. The explosion Friday at the Woodburn bank led to the death of Oregon State Police Senior Trooper William Hakim and Woodburn Police Captain Tom Tennant.

Woodburn's Police Chief Scott Russell, also received serious injuries in the blast. He is being treated at a Portland hospital. One bank employee received minor injuries.

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Clark W. December 17, 2008 10:30 am (Pacific time)

I think its funny that people say the news is to blame. like, where would we get any information if not from news? just wondering. they didn't know him, or arrest him. how could they convict him? maybe he and his daddy aren't guilty. we'll see. i'm not placing my bets till theyre in front of the judge. saying the news is to blame tho, seems like a cop out to me.

Jenna December 17, 2008 10:12 am (Pacific time)

Hey Dave, the "chick" as you so disrespectively noted, is the accused bomber's girlfriend. YES. Maybe you don't think that's of any relevance, but the cops probably DO. Why is the gun so much more important to you than the fact that these guys may be guilty of murder? Who are you protecting? The "chick"? Try again!

Beth December 16, 2008 10:38 am (Pacific time)

It seems as tho the media is once again involving innocent people. There seems to be such a quick arrest in this case.. I mean does that ever happen this fast??? the two women are very likely completely separate from anything to do with this tagedy. I personally think that this man is innocent.But once again media sensation and the drive to make a buck selling this news and drive this man to the gas chamber over rides any thing else. He has already been convicted thanks to the news.

Dave in Eugene December 15, 2008 8:01 pm (Pacific time)

Editor, the chick with the rifle is a nice pic but I agree with Jim at the top - you chose to publish it to cause a gun freakout.

Linda December 17, 2008 8:36 am (Pacific time)

This comes as a shock to everyone that knows him. He was a wonderful person and treated his girlfriend and 2 kids with the up most respect and love. Not once did I ever hear of or witness anything that would be considered hurtful or destructive behavior. Josh was a hard worker and was always tying to get the most out of life for himself and his family. This is all very hard to take in. I can not say if he is innocent or guilty all I know is the Josh I know would never have done anything like this and if he is found guilty of the charges I hope the ones who knew him and loved him can find the strength to accept this and pick up and move on with their lives. Whether it was him or not my heart goes out to all the families who lost their fathers and sons, brothers and husbands. Respected officers in our community whose selflessness will forever be remembered.

Linda December 16, 2008 8:10 pm (Pacific time)

He is not in debt he has his own business in which he collects vegetable oil from restaurants all over the state of Oregon including Bend and Woodburn, which would explain why he was in that location, he makes biodiesel and he was separated from his wife 8 years ago.

Editor: Linda, thank you for adding this. Can you tell us what you think about the arrest? Either comment here or write to me at tim@salem-news.com.

Ann December 16, 2008 4:27 pm (Pacific time)

There are several innacurate statements in this article. You may want to double check the facts.

Editor: We are working on it, thanks.

M. Smith December 16, 2008 12:12 am (Pacific time)

Well you are both wrong. The rifle in question is a Springfield Armory M1A. It is semi auto based on the military's M14 selective fire rifle and is set up with a scope in the fashion of the military's M21. What difference does any of this make?... None, he didn't use it in the commission of his act of terrorism, but I'm sure the anti-gun crowd will jump on the issue and use it for their propaganda anyway.

Jim December 15, 2008 4:57 pm (Pacific time)

Uhm editor, its an M1 Garand with a scope, commonly used in hunting. Let's not cause an unnecessary gun freakout. Hunting is common here in Oregon.

Editor: Jim, Yes, everything you point out is correct and hunting is very popular here in Oregon. It is perhaps a total coincidence; but interesting. While this is likely a hunting rifle, the M1 of course was designed specifically to kill people and that point seems worthy also.

(The M1 Garand was the primary rifle used by U.S. forces from the late 1930's through the beginning of the Vietnam War: Wikipedia page on the M1 Garand)

Anonymous December 15, 2008 4:07 pm (Pacific time)

What are the pictures of? Is this his girlfriend, ex-wife, or what? They look like two different women...

Could you label them, or include the details in the story?!

Editor: As noted in the addition to the caption, the inset photos are from Turnidge's only MySpace friend, who goes by the name JJ.

He is seen in JJ's photos; the photo with the rifle is JJ's main image. It seemed noteworthy that this man's only MySpace friend besides "Tom" who is the founder of MySpace and is every user's automatic friend, would be posing with a rifle with a scope. We would not normally include photos from a friend's MySpace page as we did in this case, but this was the only one and it seemed like there could be relevance.

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