PAW PAW – The Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office, along with the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety on Monday afternoon, Sept. 21, investigated a suspicious device with suspected gun powder located near a vehicle in the 32000 block of Red Arrow Highway, near County Road 653, in Antwerp Township.
As a precaution, Red Arrow Highway was closed just west of Paw Paw High School while deputies and investigators conducted their investigation.
Van Buren County Undersheriff, Casey Davis, said Sheriff’s deputies and members of the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety (KDPS) Bomb Squad were on the scene after a woman found the device, a bottle wrapped in duct tape with a wick sticking out of it, in her yard.
According to Davis, the bomb squad did not plan to detonate the device but planned to use a robot to open the bottle, drain it and take a sample.
Red Arrow Highway was eventually reopened to traffic.
The incident remains under investigation.
Thursday, October 08, 2026
