Bomb squad called in after live grenade donated to California museum

Incident declared an ‘innocent mistake’ by San Francisco Bay Area attraction

Carquinez Bridge, which leads to Vallejo, where the unfortunate donation was made (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The bomb squad were called to a museum in California after a kind donation turned out to be a live grenade.

Staff from the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum, in the San Francisco Bay Area, placed the object outside, evacuated the building and called the police when they realised what it was, reports Fox News.

Authorities closed off the street and bomb experts arrived from a nearby US Air Force base, who removed the grenade after conducting an “on-site visual inspection and X-ray scan”.

The live explosive was from a “well-meaning” donor, according to Trevor Allen, the museum’s executive director.

He added that it was an “innocent mistake” and praised the museum’s operations manager, Paul Goodrum, for identifying a dangerous object.

“Goodrum said the primer was fully extended, looked like something straight out of WWII era,” according to local news reporter Thomas Gase.

The museum has since reopened – although the item will remain with bomb experts to prevent future concerns.

It’s not the first time a museum has had to call in bomb disposal experts. Last summer, a building was evacuated and roads cordoned off after a World War One grenade was handed in to the D-Day Centre and World War Two Museum in Portland, Dorset.

Sixty people were evacuated from the headquarters of care provider Agincare while others were instructed to leave the area by police.

The couple who donated the item, which was inherited after a death in the family, said they were “absolutely mortified about the disruption and trouble it caused”.

A spokesperson for the D-Day Centre said that they “always advise people to report any potentially hazardous items to the police rather than bring them into us, even if they believe the item to be safe.”