New Castle homes evacuated after girls' magnet fishes apparent hand grenade from river
Residents were evacuated from a neighborhood in New Castle early this morning after police were notified that there was a hand grenade on the lawn of a home, according to police.
Police were called to a home in the 600 block of Lutton Street shortly after midnight and ordered residents to leave their homes while they investigated the incident, according to New Castle police Chief Robert Salem.
The chief said the grenade, which was a replica and not dangerous, was pulled from the Shenango River by a group of girls who were using magnets to fish from the bridge along West Washington.
The girls thought the device was fake and brought it home but then contacted police to be sure it wouldn’t explode.
“We weren’t sure if what we found was a live grenade or not so we contacted the Allegheny County Bomb Squad, which determined that it was a replica,” Salem said.
Tony LaRussa is a TribLive reporter. A Pittsburgh native, he covers crime and courts in the Alle-Kiski Valley. He can be reached at tlarussa@triblive.com.
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