Three potentially explosive “military ordinances” originally found in a pile of trash east of Rosewood were seized Monday shortly after noon by the Columbia police bomb squad and the city fire department.
Police, who did not give out many details about the matter, did not say whether the materials were possible hand grenades or mortar rounds or exactly what they had found.
“We erred on the side of caution and properly and safely removed them from the location and took them to another location to be properly and safely disposed of,” said police spokeswoman Jennifer Timmons. She did not specify where the pile of trash was that the devices were found in.
A man whom police did not identify had found the objects in a pile of trash, then for some reason put them in a storage area near the Mini Mart, which is at the intersection of Live Oak Street and S. Kilbourne Road, Timmons said.
That’s within about a quarter-mile of Kilbourne Road Elementary School, which has hundreds of students and teachers.
But officials said no threat to the school existed.
“We certainly would have taken the necessary precautions to evacuate the general area had it been necessary,” Timmons said.
Timmons said police also searched the original pile of trash where the man said he found the devices but didn’t find anything.
“We kind of dug around ourselves,” she said.
Timmons also issued a plea to the public.
“If you find something that looks like military ordinance, please call the police right away. Don’t let time lapse,” she said. “If it’s suspicious, don’t take chances. Don’t touch it. Call police.”
