Two inert hand grenades discovered Friday morning in donation bins behind a Salvation Army facility in Pasadena prompted a bomb squad response and temporary road closure, according to Pasadena Police Lieutenant Richard Padilla.
The call came in at 8:52 a.m. on Oct. 31, after employees at the Salvation Army site at the 50 block of West Del Mar Boulevard found the grenades while sorting donations.
Pasadena officers requested the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department bomb squad. Bomb squad officers determined to be inert, meaning they had no powder, but they looked real, Padilla said.
The devices were relocated to sidewalk planters on the Waverly Drive side of the property, where the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department bomb squad safely neutralized them.
Padilla said Pasadena Fire Department personnel were on standby during the operation.
Waverly Drive was temporarily closed during the incident, but no evacuations were necessary. There were two businesses open at the time, including the Salvation Army antique store, Padilla said.
Officers told everyone to stay inside until given the all-clear. The area was cleared by 11:00 a.m.
The origin of the grenades remains unknown.
“They were in the donation bins, and sometimes it takes weeks or months before those get emptied,” Padilla said. “Today, they were sorting everything—clothing, furniture, other items—and that’s when they found them.”
No injuries or arrests were reported.
Anyone with information about this case is encouraged to call the Pasadena Police at (626) 744-4241 or report information anonymously by contacting “Crime Stoppers” at (800) 222-TIPS (8477) via your smartphone by downloading the “P3 Tips” Mobile App on Google Play or the Apple App Store, or by using the website http://
Get our daily Pasadena newspaper in your email box. Free.
Get all the latest Pasadena news, more than 10 fresh stories daily, 7 days a week at 7 a.m.
