Forest Acres Police Department
A local South Carolina bomb squad responded Tuesday after a child discovered a grenade in a backyard.
At around 5:18 p.m. local time, Forest Acres Police Department (FAPD) officers were dispatched to Dalloz Road in Forest Acres, where a child had found a grenade buried in their backyard, according to thedepartment’s Facebook page. Per police, the child found the weapon “inside of a concrete block.”
Forest Acres Police Department vehicle.Forest Acres Police Department
The Forest Acres Police Department did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
“We thank Richland County Sheriff’s Department, and particularly their bomb squad, for their fast response and work to ensure this neighborhood and family were kept safe,” FAPD Chief Don Robinson shared in a statement included in the department’s Facebook post.
“A lot of training hours go into this subset of law enforcement and we appreciate being able to call on such a skilled group of officers when in need," Robinson added.
According toThe Post and Courier, citing a local incident report, a police line was made around the home, and locals were asked to stay in the farthest sections of their homes.
The latest grenade discovery in South Carolina comes overeight months aftera 47-year-old father was killed when he and his children were sorting through a grandfather’s belongings in Indiana after someone found a grenade and pulled the pin, per theLake County Sheriff’s Department.
His 18-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son were transported to a local hospital with shrapnel wounds.
AsThe New York Timesnoted at the time, grenade detonations are becoming increasingly rare, with explosives expert Lt. Col. Robert Leiendecker noting that “there are a lot of hand grenades out there in private homes, parts of collections or war souvenirs the family has kept.”
“A very, very high percentage are totally inert and safe to handle.”
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Weeks after the death in Indiana, a scuba diver in Oklahoma also discovered a grenade whilesearching through local Lake Murray.
The Love County Sheriff’s Office noted on June 1 that the scuba diver told authorities shortly after 12 p.m. that he discovered “some type of bomb or smoke grenade.”
The weapon was determined to be a live CS gas grenade from the 2000s. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol bomb squad collected the grenade and said at the time that it intended to destroy it.
“This is a great example of a citizen locating something they knew to be dangerous and contacting authors so that it could be disposed of properly,” said Love County Sheriff Andy Cumberledge.
“If you are ever in a similar situation, please contact our office so that we can assist with disposing of dangerous devices, such as this, in a safe and secure manner," he added.
source: people.com
