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| 9/14/2009 3:16:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article | Teens find live grenade
Stephanie Ludwig
Reporter
One Blair teenager's 14th birthday could have ended in a dangerously big bang Saturday.
Blake Brown and his friends were playing in an abandoned field around the area of 10th and South Streets when they discovered an old hand grenade beneath a pile of debris.
According to Blair Police Lt. Aaron Barrow, the teen and his friends brought it back to his home at 1212 South Street, when his father saw their explosive find.
"They were passing it around like a hot potato. When I saw what it was, I grabbed it from them," said Bret Brown, Blake's father. "As soon as I felt how heavy it was, I thought that it could potentially be a live grenade."
The small explosive did not appear to have a pin in it but Brown wasn't taking any chances. He called police officers about 6 p.m.
Officers took the grenade from the Brown home and placed it between two empty homes on the block and evacuated the area.
The Omaha Police Bomb Squad arrived later and took the device away. It was eventually detonated safely.
Tracing where the grenade came from could be next to impossible, given its location, said Barrow. He believes the device was old, and may have come from the home that previously sat on the site. Brown said recent construction on a culvert nearby may have dug up the grenade, which he said was dirty and rusty.
"Perhaps grandpa brought something home from war and had it in a box. It gets forgotten and then turns up somewhere years later. That's how this type of thing usually occurs," Barrow said.
Barrow said this is the third time an incident like this has occurred during his time in Blair.
He recommends leaving an explosive device where it is found and contacting police.
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