South Carolina

Child finds grenade buried behind home in Columbia, SC police say

A grenade was found buried behind a home, the Forest Acres Police Department said.
A grenade was found buried behind a home, the Forest Acres Police Department said. Forest Acres Police Department

A child found a grenade buried in the backyard of a Columbia home Tuesday night, according to the Forest Acres Police Department.

The weapon was discovered inside of a concrete block that was buried behind a home in the 2000 block of Dalloz Road, police said in a news release. That’s in the area between the intersection of Forest Drive and North Beltline Boulevard and Trenholm Park, and two elementary schools are located less than 2 miles away.

At about 5:15 p.m., officers responded to the home following a 911 call about the child’s discovery, according to the release.

A grenade was found buried behind a home, the Forest Acres Police Department said.
A grenade was found buried behind a home, the Forest Acres Police Department said. Forest Acres Police Department

In addition to the officers, members of the the Richland County Bomb Squad also responded and assisted in the destruction of the weapon, while the Columbia Fire Department was waiting on standby — but not needed, police said.

The bomb squad determined the grenade was a training weapon and was not a live explosive, according to the release.

No injuries were reported.

Information about where the grenade came from was not available, and there was no word how it wound up buried in the backyard.

“We thank Richland County Sheriff’s Department, and particularly their bomb squad, for their fast response and work to ensure this neighborhood and family were kept safe,” Forest Acres Police Chief Don Robinson said in the release. “A lot of training hours go into this subset of law enforcement and we appreciate being able to call on such a skilled group of officers when in need.”

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This story was originally published January 31, 2024 at 8:08 AM with the headline "Child finds grenade buried behind home in Columbia, SC police say."

Noah Feit
The State
Noah Feit is a Real Time reporter with The State focused on breaking news, public safety and trending news. The award-winning journalist has worked for multiple newspapers since starting his career in 1999. Support my work with a digital subscription
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