Sep 24, 2008 7:52 pm US/Pacific
World War I Artillery Shell Found In Auto Shop
CALAVERAS COUNTY, Calif. (CBS) ―
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An auto shop employee in California discovered a 21-inch long artillery round Sept. 25, 2008.
CBS
A local auto shop employee found an ancient artillery round in the shop, forcing the bomb squad to respond and deal with the round safely.
The artillery round was found by accident while a worker was cleaning out a storage shed. At 21 inches long and three inches in diameter, experts say it's from World War I, an extremely rare find.
"I knew it was old," said Isaac Leal, the auto shop co-owner. "They just don't make stuff like that [anymore]."
The find caused quite a stir in the business. Leal said he jokingly asked the worker if he had found a dead body, but the worker responded, "no, but we'll have 20 more laying around if we don't take care of this."
Leal called authorities, who dispatched the bomb squad.
"We contained it and surrounded it with sandbags," said Captain Clayton Hawkins, the bomb squad commander.
The bomb squad detonated the artillery round in a hole several feet deep, avoiding any injuries or damage to buildings.
Bomb experts estimate that the shell was manufactured sometime around 1917, and estimate that there was about six pounds of explosives inside, an amount that would have caused "extensive damage" to nearby buildings.
Leal suspects that one of the previous owners of the auto shop may be responsible for the artillery round.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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