Posted: 10/8/2009 10:15:25 AM EDT
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I am with the bomb squad, if you see me running, you better catch up. Howitzer shell clears out Philly police station Bomb squad called after man turns in old shell that was still live updated 9:32 a.m. ET, Mon., Oct . 5, 2009 PHILADELPHIA - A man who turned in an old artillery shell to Philadelphia police has learned a lesson: Call ahead. The Philadelphia Daily News reports that police district headquarters was evacuated Saturday after the man brought in a live projectile for a howitzer tank. Police say the 53-year-old man got the shell in 1977 from a friend who was a Marine and had kept it in storage since then. He recently decided to turn it in for safety reasons. Police Lt. Frank Vanore says the city bomb squad took the device to a disposal site. He says all indications are that the projectile was live. Police say the man is not expected to be charged for bringing the shell to the station. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33174892/ns/us_news-weird_news/ |
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Pathetic... Most of the news sites out there just post an AP story. Finally found one that wasn't AP... But only slightly better. ETA - 20 inches long and 31 pounds, I think I'd be kinda nervous carrying one of those around. Guy brings live shell into police station . . .By STEPHANIE FARR Philadelphia Daily News For 32 years, a Philadelphia man kept a 105 mm projectile for an M108 howitzer battle tank locked in a storage facility on Cobbs Creek Parkway. On Saturday he took it to the 12th Police District building, at 65th Street and Woodland Avenue, to dispose of it. The lesson he learned: Always call ahead to announce your projectiles. The district was evacuated for a short time about 6:45 p.m., after the 53-year-old man brought in the shell. The city's Bomb Squad was called in and safely removed the device to a facility where it could be disposed of, Lt. Frank Vanore, police spokesman said. "All indications are that it was an active ordnance," he said. "They handled it like it was live." Vanore said that the man, who was not identified, told police that he had obtained the device from a friend in 1977 when he was enlisted in the Marines. He kept it in a storage facility since then and recently decided he wanted to get rid of it, Vanore said. The man was interviewed by police, but is not expected to be charged with a crime for bringing the device to the 12th District. "I don't think there was anything sinister to it," Vanore said. "He had a six-month-old at home and didn't want to bring it to his house, which was probably a good idea." |
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Quoted:
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The Philadelphia Daily News reports that police district headquarterswas evacuated Saturday after the man brought in a live projectile for a howitzer tank. My history is a little rusty, what is a howitzer tank? self-propelled artillery gun Something like a pre-paladin? I recall an Sherman - M4(105) 105 mm howitzer on it. |
| Whatever happened to the cops like my Uncle Kevin who would have (and did) take a hand grenade, put it in a paper sack on his desk until the bomb squad came over in a cruiser and took it to their disposal site –– all without panic, without the big vehicles and armored clothing, etc? |
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I wouldn't want to be dicking around with an old/live artillery shell... the level of my discomfiture would depend on the vintage, of course.
A modern manufactured shell wouldn't bother me NEARLY as much as, say, an early 1900's shell made with Picrates. I wouldn't even stand in the same room as one of those. |
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It probably did not even have a detonator component.
More silly when they close places down and evacuate because of a grenade. From my experience finding grenades: 1: find loose grenade and do a quick scan for the possible owner 2: quickly stick grenade in cargo pocket before some fobbit spots it and calls in EOD 3: return to unit and show off your new prize (the following steps I never encountered, but others have) 4:stick grenade in nade pouch on vest 5:get asked where you got said device and have to reassure someone higher ranking that it it not from the unit and not on the property books 6:proudly display your grenade find on your outervest 7:realize that that it adds some weight and now want to ditch it 8:find a proper carry tube or wrap tape around it and toss it in the pyro/nade/smoke/flash ammo box in vehicle where it will sit for the unit who replaces you to repeat the previous steps 8a: dig it out and toss it at something for recreation and a moral booster. |
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Quoted:
Whatever happened to the cops like my Uncle Kevin who would have (and did) take a hand grenade, put it in a paper sack on his desk until the bomb squad came over in a cruiser and took it to their disposal site –– all without panic, without the big vehicles and armored clothing, etc? Lawyers & 24 hour news cycle. |
