PEABODY — A local resident found a three pound British armor piercing artillery shell in the basement of their home Monday. In a tweet and Facebook post, the police department said Massachusetts State Police “took possession and rendered it safe without incident at the Farm Ave dump.”
“Yesterday afternoon, State Police Bomb Squad Troopers had to handle a piece of ordnance that might have been manufactured for use against German tanks in North Africa or Normandy,” a statement from Massachusetts State Police on Facebook said.
Police Chief Tom Griffin said the family of the resident had been cleaning out the basement when they found the artillery shell.
“He was in World War II apparently and must have had a souvenir and they found it. So they did the right thing and left it alone and called the police,” Griffin said. “If they had just thrown that in the trash that could have been a problem.”
An armor piercing artillery shell is a large bullet that is designed to go through metal that could “really cause some damage,” he said.
The police had their explosive detection K-9’s on the scene and had asked the state police to respond.
“They have the equipment and the technology to handle those kinds of situations in a safe manner,” Griffin said.
Troopers performed x-ray diagnostics and discovered it was “approximately 10” long, 3” diameter with an inert cone,” according to the State Police statement.
“The Bomb Squad determined safe disposal was necessary, and secured the round and took it to a disposal site, where they counter charged it without incident,” the statement said.
