Most people have a pile of dust waiting for them when cleaning out old houses or end up collecting some extra cash in between the couch cushions.
A Waukesha family had an unexpected find while cleaning out a china cabinet recently. And rather than the items ending up on "Antiques Roadshow," they ended up in the hands of the Milwaukee Bomb Squad.
According to Waukesha police reports, a caller reported finding grenades that were possibly "live" while cleaning out a china cabinet at the caller's deceased mother's home at 102 Columbia Avenue around 10 a.m. March 6.
The Waukesha Police Department called the Milwaukee Bomb Squad to the scene and the bomb squad transported the grenades to the Waukesha Police Department's firing range on Sentry Drive, where they were detonated.
Waukesha Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division Capt. Ron Oremus said one of the grenades turned out to be live and still had some powder inside it, but wouldn't have gone off unless someone pulled out its "pin." "They don't go off by themselves, but the older they are the more unstable they become," Oremus said.
Oremus said the one that was live was from World War II.
So how rare is it to get a call about an old grenade inside a house? Oremus explained it happens more than one might think.
"I'd say once a year we get a call on hand grenades where we have to call the bomb squad," Oremus said. "It's not that unusual." In fact, Oremus said one year a deputy found 48 hand grenades in a storage unit in a metal cabinet and brought it to the station. Oremus said eight of those ended up being live before being detonated. No one was injured in this recent incident, but Oremus said if the live one went off, it would have resulted in a lot of destruction.
"They have the potential (to be destructive)," Oremus said. "They could do a lot of damage and could be pretty dangerous." And if this happens in the future to anyone, Oremus has some advice.
"Don't touch it at all," he said. "Leave it alone and we'll come. We'll eyeball it and if it's live, we'll call the Milwaukee Bomb Squad right away.".
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