The civil division of the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office was on hand to serve an eviction at 3225 Liberty Road Monday morning when circumstances led to calling out the Cabarrus County bomb squad and closing the road to through traffic.

According to RCSO, while deputies were waiting in the parking lot of Morgan Elementary School to meet the landlord of the property, they saw two men come out of the house carrying what looked like belongings. As the two men crossed through the parking lot, deputies approached and asked for identification to ensure a theft was not occurring. One of the men had an outstanding warrant, and as part of standard procedure during arrests, the deputies had the man empty his pockets.

An item from his pocket looked like a possible pipe bomb, and deputies called the Cabarrus County bomb squad. That team agreed the item looked like a possible explosive of some kind and took the item back to their facility to be destroyed.

Meanwhile, RCSO has applied for a search warrant to be sure no one else is in the house and that there are no explosives or bomb making materials in the house. The bomb squad is standing by to assist in that search. Until then the road remains closed out of an abundance of caution.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.