Chestnut Ave. between 3rd St. and 4th St. was closed for a few hours Wednesday while the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Bomb Squad disposed of a suspicious device that was later determined not to be a bomb, but a piece of military artillery not terrorist in nature.
{loadposition latestnews}According to Marlene Arrona of the Long Beach Police Department, residents were asked to stay inside their homes starting at around 11AM when detectives, in the course of an investigation, discovered a suspicious device inside a residence in the 300 block of Chestnut Avenue. The LASD Bomb Squad responded and rendered the area safe.
An official with the LASD’s Arson and Explosives detail said that the bomb squad recovered a “piece of ordnance,” or military artillary that needed to be properly disposed of. Though it is illegal to posses these types of items in a residence, the official said that the team is often called to Long Beach, where many retired military personnel live, to recover such items. These types of disposals are known to happen after someone dies and the family does not know what to do with the items; the official could not confirm if this was the case in this instance.
It is unclear if the ordnance discovered was inert or live, but nothing was found that could be used to fire it, the official said, rendering the device useless. A few hours later, after the item was securely removed, the street was reopened to traffic.
“Arrests were not made in connection with the suspicious device,” said Arrona. “Evidence was collected and the investigation is ongoing.
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