Southeast Wichita residents return home after suspicious device forces evacuation

A suspicious device found in the backyard of a southeast Wichita home was not explosive, a Wichita police officer said late Saturday.

Several people returned to their homes at about 9 p.m. Saturday after a resident in the 800 block of South Green called 911 to report a possible explosive on his property earlier that evening, Wichita police Sgt. Dan Oblinger said. Officers who arrived at the house at around 6:15 p.m. found the device and immediately evacuated neighbors, he said.

The neighborhood is located north of Lincoln and east of Grove.

The police department’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team – or bomb squad – determined the device was not a threat and removed it from the yard, he said.

“The device was made to look like an explosive device but was not explosive,” Oblinger said. He said he could not release a description of the apparatus.

Police are still investigating the device’s purpose and who left it, he said.