Businesses in Palm Coast’s City Market Place were briefly evacuated early this afternoon after a resident who found a grenade in his backyard brought it to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Precinct office in the shopping center.
“In an abundance of caution, we took it back outside, evacuated the immediate area and called in St. Johns County to come pick it up,” said Mark Strobridge, a sheriff’s spokesman. The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office has a bomb and hazmat squad that periodically makes trips to Flagler to respond to such suspicious incidents or discoveries of ordnance.
The squad, which includes a robot among its equipment, usually takes the device and either analyzes it or explodes it in a containment drum. It was last in Palm Coast in January 2016 when it detonated a suspicious package found in a P-Section mailbox. In November 2013, it was called in to detonate what turned out to be a live smoke bomb and a dud grenade discovered at the Flagler County landfill, a month after removing a live grenade discovered in the street, at Belle Terre Parkway and Palm Coast Parkway.
In the case of the grenade brought in to the sheriff’s Palm Coast precinct, the bomb squad sent just two of its members with the containment drum rather than the full squad, and claimed the grenade at 2:26 p.m. They took the grenade back to St. Johns.
Businesses at City Market Place reopened at after 3 p.m. (The Sheriff’s Office in its Facebook postings about the incident referred to the business center by its old name, City Walk, which changed to City Market Place in 2010 after Universal, which owns the name “City Walk,” threatened a lawsuit.)
The Sheriff’s Office had not yet disclosed where exactly the grenade had been found in Palm Coast. “It’s still part of an open investigation because they still have deputies there combing through the property,” Brittany Kershaw, a sheriff’s spokesperson, said later this afternoon. They were reluctant to announce the address so as not to draw gawkers.
Shortly after 6 p.m., the deputies’ work done (“search revealed no additional munition on the property,” Kelshaw texted), the address of the grenade find was revealed: 64 Ryecliff Drive in Palm Coast.
In a separate, unrelated incident, sheriff’s deputies responded at 12:46 p.m. to an electrocution at 900 Cinnamon Beach Way in the Hammock, where a contractor was working. The contractor was taken by ambulance to Florida Hospital Flagler in “full code,” meaning that he was not responsive all the way to the hospital
Brian says
“Hey Honey, I found a grenade – let’s take it to a crowded shopping center!”
Anonymous says
why the fuck do we not have our own bomb squad? that is completely ridiculous…..
Donnie Riddle says
That was a mighty stupid thing to do, leave it alone and notify the authorities! Could have endangered many people lives with such an act !!!!!
ASF says
How foolish do you have to be to find a grenade at your house, pick it up, put it in your vehicle and bring it to a crowded shipping center?? I guess foolish enough not to know how to dial “911”–unless you have contraband on your premises that you don’t want the sheriff’s office to know about and you are willing to take desperate chances to avoid it.
Patriot says
Our own bomb squad? Staley would want 10million for that ,given 5 million only gets you a few extra traffic patrols
Shell says
It was a round for an M203 grenade launcher. It’s not going to just blow up any more than a live round for a .38 pistol or a 12-gauge shotgun will. I should think there is *someone* with the SO who has military experience and could have told them this.The SO grossly overreacted by evacuating the whole complex. Calling the bomb squad was the right move but just to come get it and dispose of it.
Shark says
R – Section – should I say anymore ????
R. F. says
This is why we moved out of Palm Coast. Too many grenades, gangs, home invasions, drug dealers, drive by shootings, road rage, traffic fatalities and being robbed twice! Yes, no place is without crime, but Palm Coast is an open sewer. Useless police force. Too bad. In the early nineties Palm Coast was a great place to live.