Suspicious Items Found In U-Haul Truck In Tempe Arizona

There were some tense moments at a U-Haul facility in Tempe on Friday.

A 15-foot truck was returned to the company’s Priest Drive location around 3 p.m.

When a manager opened it up, he spotted some items he thought looked suspicious.

According to Vice President of Product and Safety, “It didn’t take me long to call people let’s put it that way.”

Doug Matteson from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office explains what happened next.

“We opened it up, we saw some items that kinda looked linked to suspicious activity…we are not saying this is involved with terrorism…we saw some items that kinda bring some attention to our Deputies that work anti-terrorism. We called them out to make sure, have them go through everything.”

The Sheriff Office confirms there were no guns, explosives, or hazardous materials found in the truck.

They do say there was a messy pile of suspicious documents and files.

There were also some other items that the Sheriff’s Office said it was not prepared to comment on.

Investigators will continue combing through the documents and are trying to dig up more information about the person who last rented the truck.

Matteson would not divulge exactly what the other items were or what they were related to, only saying it was significant enough for the Maricopa County’s anti-terrorism group to be called out to investigate.

Authorities are currently checking where the truck came from and who last rented it.

Matteson said that he believes the truck has been at that U-Haul location for 3 to 6 months and that as far as he knows no one has had access to it during that time. The rental center is surrounded by fences and has a security unit, Matteson said.