Police seek more info after live grenade found in Transcona garage

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This article was published 29/05/2024 (809 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg police are investigating after a man cleaning out a family member’s garage found a live grenade Tuesday.

Officers, including one from the police bomb unit, were sent to a Transcona home at about 12:30 p.m. after a man called police.

Police called in Canadian Armed Forces ammunition technicians to help remove the grenade. They determined it was live ordnance.

Winnipeg Police Service spokeswoman Const. Dani McKinnon said the man had been clearing out the building, in the Kildare-Redonda area, for a family member who wasn’t around at the time.

“A little bit more work has to be done — I don’t know if police have spoken to the homeowner yet; they weren’t around yesterday,” said McKinnon. “I don’t want to say charges are pending or anything like that because there’s still a bit of work to be done on it.”

She added police don’t suspect the owner was intending to use the grenade criminally.

“(We’d) certainly like some answers as to ‘Was it part of a collection, where did you get it from, did you forget you had it,’ those kinds of questions,” she said. “It was a happen-upon situation, it wasn’t sitting there where it would be readily accessible.”

Police said explosive devices are occasionally left behind at properties, and anyone who finds such a device should not touch it, but instead call 911 and leave the area.

“We get these situations probably a couple times a year, where somebody will turn in some type of a firearm or ammunition or an explosive device and say ‘Look, this was located; it was in some old belongings from grandpa,’ or whatever,” McKinnon said. “It certainly doesn’t make it OK. We’re just happy to dispose of it safely.”

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca