Man finds grenade while cleaning out uncle’s house


The Wright-Patterson Air Force Base bomb squad removed a grenade from a house Thursday evening after a man found the ordnance while clearing out his uncle’s house earlier in the day.

The bomb squad planned to detonate the grenade at a safe distance from nearby houses.

Capt. Randy Linkous of the Darke County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were called to the scene and that the house was evacuated. Linkous said they are unsure the grenade is live, but that they are taking precautions and called in a bomb squad unit through Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

A neighbor, Fred Higgins, said the homeowner is in a nursing home and that his nephew has been clearing out the home. The nephew told him he found a grenade and that he called the sheriff’s office, Higgins said.

“He said that the pin was still in the grenade,” Higgins said. “He described it as (looking) similar to a pineapple,” which Higgins said could mean it’s an incendiary device dating back to World War II or the Korean War.