Suspicious object in Mandan leads to terrorizing arrest

MANDAN, N.D. – An incident involving a suspicious object shut down streets in downtown Mandan on May 7 and led to the arrest of a 25-year-old man on a terrorizing charge. Authorities eventually determined the object was harmless.

An incident involving a suspicious object shut down streets in downtown Mandan on Friday and led to the arrest of a 25-year-old man on a terrorizing charge.

The Bismarck Bomb Squad was called to the scene in the area of First Street and Second Avenue Northwest shortly after 10:30 a.m. The squad eventually determined the object posed no threat, and the incident was considered resolved about 1:30 p.m.

The suspect refused to talk to officers, and authorities didn’t immediately determine a possible motive, according to Deputy Police Chief Lori Flaten. The suspect’s name wasn’t immediately released. The jail roster for the Burleigh Morton Detention Center identified him as Rhyan Gessner, 25, of Mandan. Formal charges weren’t immediately filed.

There was no known connection to an April 28 incident in which a suspicious object in a ditch prompted the shutdown of the area of McKenzie Drive and the Expressway on-ramp, Flaten said. That object also turned out to be harmless.