On Thursday, March 31, 2011, at about 6:30 p.m. two Douglas County residents discovered what appeared to be a live hand grenade while going through a friend’s belongings at a residence in the Topaz Ranch Estates.

At approximately 7:00 p.m. the subjects drove the hand grenade to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office in Minden to turn the device over to authorities. Sheriff’s patrol personnel immediately established a perimeter around the hand grenade, which was left in the subject’s vehicle, and called for the Tahoe-Douglas Bomb Squad to respond. Bomb squad personnel were on scene within minutes, and the device, which was in fact found to be a live WWII era hand grenade, was safely removed from the subject’s vehicle and secured in a bomb-proof container for disposal.

Residents are reminded that should they find what appears to be an explosive device, they should not attempt to move or otherwise tamper with the device, but instead move a safe distance from the device and immediately call 911.