Man Finds Old Grenade While Cleaning House

Bomb squad detectives responded to the Santa Clarita sheriff’s station after a Canyon Country man turned over a World War II explosive device he had found while cleaning out his house on Friday, police said.

The military grenade simulator, an explosive device used in training, was put into an explosive-safe tank and transported to a bomb locker so that it could be returned to military authorities for disposal, said Det. Ed Nordskog of the county sheriff’s bomb squad.

“It’s generally used in training, but it will blow your hand off,” Nordskog said. “It’s been sitting around a while, but it will certainly hurt you if it was to go off.”

While cleaning his house in preparation for moving, the man found the explosive device, said Sheriff’s Lt. Steve Dolan of the Santa Clarita Station.

“Evidently it belongs to his father, who fought in World War II,” Dolan said.

The unidentified man brought the grenade-like device to the station counter around 11:30 a.m., Dolan said. Sheriff’s deputies placed the object, about 4 inches long and 3 inches in diameter, between two brick walls in a corner outside of the building, roped off the parking lot and called the bomb squad.

The squad arrived shortly after 12:45 p.m., collected the explosive and took it to Peter J. Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic for military officials to collect, Nordskog said.