PALO ALTO (BCN) — A Catholic church in Palo Alto was briefly evacuated Thursday morning because of a hand grenade found in the parking lot that a bomb squad later determined was inert, a police spokesman said.
An employee at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, located at 3290 Middlefield Road, noticed a cardboard box filled with multiple items next to a dumpster at the church parking lot and informed police around 10:15 a.m., police Sgt. James Reifschneider said.
An officer initially responded to the scene on a call for service, but found the box contained old handgun ammunition in factory packaging with a yellow tint and a loose hand grenade, Reifschneider said.
The box, comparable in size to a bankers box, was found in an area of the parking lot north of Cowper Street and didn’t pose a danger to surrounding homes, he said.
The officer examined the grenade that appeared to be inert, but as a precaution requested a Santa Clara County sheriff’s bomb squad investigate the object, Reifschneider said.
The bomb squad arrived at about 11 a.m. and quickly determined the grenade was inactive, according to Reifschneider.
A few people at the church were briefly evacuated during the investigation but have since been allowed back inside, he said.
Both items in the box could’ve been sold as keepsakes at military surplus stores, the sergeant said.
The ammunition appeared to be at least a decade old and the primer was removed from the rounds. Police do not believe there was any “malicious” intent in leaving the box at the church, which they don’t suspect was targeted, according to Reifschneider.
Investigators don’t know who owns the items or where the box came from, Reifschneider said.
There were no road closures or other evacuations during the incident, he said.