A potential disaster was narrowly avoided on Tuesday when a live test military grenade was discovered in the yard of a home on Tunison Lane in Sebastian, Florida.
While tending to a flower bed, a local maintenance worker unearthed the explosive device. The worker immediately notified the Sebastian Police Department and moved the grenade to the garage.
Officers of the Sebastian Police Department swiftly arrived on the scene and executed a rapid evacuation of the home. The surrounding roads were also blocked off to ensure the safety of area residents.
As the Sebastian Police Department lacks a bomb disposal unit, officers contacted the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, asking for their expertise and assistance.
Upon arrival, the Space Force Base personnel performed an initial assessment and determined the grenade was not fully operational.
“Patrick Air Force responded, determined the unit was a training unit and removed it to be disposed of,” Captain Timothy Wood of the Sebastian Police Department told the Sebastian Daily.
Despite being a training unit, Wood explained that if activated, the device would have produced a loud noise but would not have exploded like a standard grenade, releasing shrapnel.
The team from the Space Force Base defused the grenade and successfully removed it from the scene without any further incidents.
However, the mystery of how the test grenade ended up in a residential area remains. Police are urging residents to report any suspicious items they encounter and never to attempt to handle potential explosives themselves.
