Police responded to a neighborhood in East Portland on Monday afternoon after several explosions rocked the area, according to the Portland Police Bureau. Residents were initially directed to shelter in place, though police later lifted the order.
According to a police spokesman, officers went out to a neighborhood just north of Glendoveer Golf & Tennis on Monday morning after reports of a “loud explosion.” The officers determined that someone’s vehicle had suffered an explosion, but both the car and the driver were gone when they arrived, PPB said.
Another call came in around 12:40 p.m. from Northeast 141st Avenue near Northeast San Rafael Street, the same area as the first call. The same car and driver from the earlier call returned. PPB said that there was a second explosion on the side of the road after the man came back.
At the scene, officers arrested 62-year-old Stephen P. Filipelli. He’s expected to be charged with two counts of possession of a destructive device, two counts of second-degree disorderly conduct, and one count of second-degree criminal mischief.
Neighbors told KGW that the explosions could be felt as well as heard, and they were concussive enough to rattle their windows. “It sounded like a pipe bomb because it was too big to be a firework,” said Scott, who lives nearby. “And I thought, ‘My dog’s probably hiding under the bed already.'”
“(It was a) big explosion,” said Jeanie, another neighbor. “And it almost seemed like it was under my house; it was that intense.”
An indent could be seen in the ivy on the side of the street where the second explosion went off. Investigators placed dozens of evidence markers in the street and surrounding areas, each representing places where pieces of the explosive devices landed.
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PPB’s Metropolitan Explosive Disposal Unit responded to check out a suspicious bag and vehicle at the scene. Officers asked people in the immediate area to shelter in place while the unit investigated, but the order was later lifted after they cleared both the bag and the vehicle.
