Grenades prompt evacuation of Glendale police HQ

A woman prompted the evacuation of the lobby of Glendale police headquarters Saturday evening after bringing in three grenades she found in her late father’s condominium.

The woman told police she was going through her father’s belongings and clearing out his condo in the 200 block of East California Avenue when she discovered the grenades, Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said. Her father, a World War II veteran, died earlier this year.

Police cleared the lobby shortly after 6 p.m., and a Glendale sergeant watched over the grenades until the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s bomb squad arrived, Lorenz said.

The bomb squad determined the grenades were live and took them away for disposal, he said.

As for why the woman, who was not identified, took the explosives in a shoe box to a police station, Lorenz said she apparently did not know what else to do with them.

“The number one rule is leave it alone — don’t touch it,” he said, adding residents should instead ask police to come to their homes and check out any potentially deadly devices.

Though unusual, Saturday’s incident wasn’t the first time someone took an explosive device to police headquarters, which is across from City Hall.

In 2011, a Glendale man he turned in a Korean War-era bomb simulator that he found in his garage.

Police shut down Isabel Street for nearly two hours and briefly locked down City Hall buildings before the bomb squad removed it.

That same year, a Glendale man was arrested after he turned in a 6-inch-long and 3-inch-wide pipe bomb, which contained bullets, pellets and gun powder, to officers outside police headquarters. He claimed two men were trying to kill him, and he built the device for protection, police said.

Saro Akhverdyan was convicted in May 2012 for possessing a destructive device and sentenced to two years in prison, according to Los Angeles County Superior Court records.

The woman in Saturday’s incident is not facing any charges, Lorenz said.

-- Veronica Rocha, veronica.rocha@latimes.com

Follow Veronica Rocha on Google+ and on Twitter: @VeronicaRochaLA.

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