Active grenade found in yard
By John Joyce
Published in News on February 10, 2015 1:46 PM
An unexploded hand grenade caused the evacuation of several homes, a day care and a string of apartments on Lee Drive and Glenwood Trail in Goldsboro on Monday afternoon.
Goldsboro police, firefighters and rescue personnel all responded to the neighborhood, located off Ash Street, but the ultimate decision to remove and to destroy the grenade was made by Seymour Johnson Air Force Base's Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians.
"Our EOD did respond to that," SJAFB Public Affairs Staff Sgt. Chuck Broadway said.
The call came in about noon.
Maj. Michael West of the Goldsboro Police Department said the grenade was discovered by a man hired to clean up the residence of a deceased person at 107 Lee Drive.
"The resident or homeowner that had lived there passed away. The guy that was hired to clean up the place was in the back yard, pulled up a tarp and a grenade rolled out from under the tarp and across his foot," West said.
The man immediately left the area and called 911.
Patrol officers responded but were not in a position to determine whether or not the grenade was live, West said.
He said an evacuation radius of 300 feet was established, which included the Trinity Child Care Center at 111 Lee Drive.
"The kids there were taken to the public library, and the parents were notified by the day care of the relocation," West said.
GPD called in the Goldsboro Fire Department and Wayne County EMS to assist.
The grenade was later determined to possibly be live, prompting the city's first responders to contact the base for assistance.
Acting Assistant Fire Chief Capt. John Gillis confirmed the grenade was in fact real.
"We got the call out to 107 Lee Drive to assist the PD. When we found out what it was -- a grenade found in the back yard -- EOD was called in," Gillis said.
GFD assisted with traffic control as nearby streets were blocked off.
"We were just standing by. We evacuated three houses, a day care and the apartments on Glenwood Trail that back up to the residence," he said.
Once EOD retrieved the hand grenade, it was transported to a safe location for detonation, the fire report said.
SJAFB Public Affairs initially said it could offer no details regarding Monday's events surrounding the hand grenade. A prepared statement was issued early this morning.
"(Monday), our EOD team responded to an off-base request from the Goldsboro Police Department regarding a grenade found at a residence in Goldsboro. We have a working agreement with the city of Goldsboro to respond to occurrences such as this and are always prepared to support the local community which supports us so much. Seymour Johnson AFB is a part of the Goldsboro community and we are committed and honored to protect it however we can," 4th Civil Engineer Squadron EOD Superintendent Master Sgt. Christopher Wakham said.