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June 5, 2007

Update: Devices at Attleboro station no real threat

ATTLEBORO, Mass. -- As a precaution, the police evacuated the police station, city hall and nearby area late this afternoon after a man came to the station to drop off a grenade and two small torpedo-shaped items the man had found at a relative's home.

An area was also closed to traffic for a time.

The two mortar-like items were not live, but a state police squad did take the grenade, believing it could possibly be live, said Capt. David Proia.

Proia said state police examined the device and determined it was not an imminent threat of exploding, so they will take it to a secure location to dispose of it.

The person who brought the items to the police did not mean any harm and was trying to do the right thing, Proia said. But the police advise that someone who has or finds such items call the police first rather than bring them to the station.

The man was clearing items from a relative's home in Attleboro when he found the items. The relative was apparently a war veteran who died and may have brought the items back from war.

An officer who just arrived to start a shift shortly before 4 p.m. spoke with the person in the police station parking lot and, upon hearing what the items were, began the steps that led to the evacuation.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 7:20 PM | Permalink

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