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Grenade in scare was 6-year-old's souvenir

Bomb squad called to check out explosive device found on back steps of local school.

Franklin police Capt. Ross Coulton with the inert hand grenade that was found outside the Anthony Wayne Elementary School in Franklin Wednesday July 15.

Staff photo by Pat Auckerman Franklin police Capt. Ross Coulton with the inert hand grenade that was found outside the Anthony Wayne Elementary School in Franklin Wednesday July 15.

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By Jessica Heffner, Staff Writer Updated 7:37 AM Thursday, July 16, 2009

FRANKLIN — The grenade that caused a scare when it was found on the steps of a local elementary school belongs to a 6-year-old boy.

Franklin police were dispatched at 8:46 a.m. Wednesday, July 15, to Anthony Wayne Elementary, 16 Farm Ave., after an employee found a grenade sitting on the back steps.

Upon surveying the explosive, which was identified as a hand grenade, police called in the Dayton bomb squad. The squad’s agents determined the grenade lacked the mechanism to deploy or explode, and it became the property of the Franklin Division of Police, said Capt. Ross Coulton.

The device is a training grenade from the World War II-era and no longer contained gun powder or a fuse, police said.

Coulton said a woman called police Wednesday afternoon and said the grenade was purchased during a recent family trip to an out-of-state war museum and given to their 6-year-old son as a souvenir.

The boy had been playing at the school this week and accidentally left the device there, according to the woman, who police would not name.

While the family has asked for the grenade back, Coulton said it will remain in the property room until Chief Gordon Ellis returns to the office next week and determines whether it should be returned.

“At this point, we are the owner of it,” Coulton said.

The school was not in session for the summer and about five employees were inside cleaning the building at the time.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2843 or jheffner@coxohio.com.

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