Goodwill worker uncovers gas canister in donation box

A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s bomb squad was called to the Goodwill store in downtown Glendale Sunday after workers found a gas canister and mask while rifling through a box of donations, officials said.

A bomb squad member removed the gas canister, which had the potential of dispersing a chemical agent if activated, because they believed they could safely transport it to their facility and destroy it there, Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said.

“It was an actual device,” he said. “It could have been discharged.”

It was not immediately known what chemical was inside.

A store employee found the gas mask and canister just after 4 p.m. in a box, which arrived to the store in the 200 block of North Brand Boulevard on a donation truck, according to Glendale police reports.

The box came from a drop-off station in La Cañada Flintridge, but store employees were unable to locate the person who donated it.

Police said the canister, which was inside an orange plastic bag, was worn and the gas mask “appeared to be several years old.”