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11-Year-Old Boy Finds Grenade Along Benicia Waterfront

BENICIA (CBS SF) -- Police said a bomb squad safely disposed of a possible live grenade Sunday evening near the Benicia Capitol building.

An 11-year-old boy found the grenade at about 5:10 p.m. Sunday in some water at the bottom of First Street.

 

When the youth found the grenade it was covered in barnacles and he took it to show his father, who was in the area of First and H streets and called police.

The boy stumbled across the grenade while he was playing with a friend. At first he thought it was a toy but Benicia police say it was the real thing.

Robert Diehl's 11-year-old son Jake found the grenade partially submerged in mud off the Carquinez Strait, not knowing it was real the boys picked it up, took pictures of it, even walked several blocks with it. It wasn't until Robert saw it with his own eyes that he saw the Korean writing on it and realized it was no toy.

"I just looked down at it and shined my light on it and saw it looked real," Robert Diehl said. "Had barnacles on it and had some rust on it so I could tell it was metal and at that point I told him to step aside and called police."

The grenade still had its pin intact. Police cordoned off the area around First Street between G and H streets.

Police said businesses were told to lock their doors and allow their customers to go out of a back exit as a precaution.

Officers made sure no one was home in the affected area.

An explosives division with Travis Air Force Base was called in to safely dispose of the grenade.

"Benicia has a military background with the town and the arsenal and all that. They just found a grenade a few years ago off of 680," Robert Diehl said.

Roadside work crews found that grenade near I-680 and Parish Road last year. Robert Diehl says it was a once-in-a-lifetime find, and for his son, it was a teachable moment.

"Don't touch it. Don't handle it. The kids got lucky," he said.

© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. and Bay City News Service. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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