UGA bomb squad removes grenade from house

By Alyse Knorr

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The University of Georgia Police bomb squad was called Thursday to remove and destroy a grenade found inside a foreclosed home in northern Clarke County, the Athens Banner-Herald reported.

Foreclosure specialists Mike Seger and Jackie Quig found the grenade at about 11:30 a.m. Thursday while inspecting the home, located on Towne Square Lane off Newton Bridge Road.

“It was lying right in the middle of the floor, so I picked it up to see if it was plastic,” Seger told the paper.

He then noticed the grenade’s pin was in place and called 911.

Athens-Clarke police and firefighters, along with technicians from the UGA Police Bomb Disposal Unit, responded to the call.

After taping off the cul-de-sac, officers informed neighbors of the situation and asked them to either stay inside or leave.

The bomb squad sent a robot into the house to pick the grenade up and move it to a pit the officers dug in the backyard. Officers then used an explosive counter-charge to blow the device up.

UGA police Chief Jimmy Williamson didn’t know if the grenade was real, but the bomb experts who examined it found no evidence that it was fake.

“When anything appears to be functioning, they are going to handle it as if it was a real device,” he told the Banner-Herald.