A hand grenade that was later determined to be inert brought out the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department bomb squad to the 99 Cents Only store on Manhattan Beach Boulevard in North Redondo Beach late Monday evening.
Shortly after 7:30 p.m., an employee at the discount store reported that a round, green hand grenade with its pin missing was sitting on top of a recycling box at the store's entrance, according to Sgt. Shawn Freeman, a spokesman for the Redondo Beach Police Department.
Police said they immediately evacuated nearby shops, established a 150-foot perimeter around the grenade and called in the bomb squad.
According to Freeman, the bomb squad initially believed the grenade was live, but after further investigation with an X-ray machine, deputies concluded that the grenade was not explosive or hazardous.
"It was not a live grenade; it was not an explosive grenade," said Freeman. "We didn't know that until we had the bomb squad come out here."
In a news release sent several hours after the incident, Freeman said law-enforcement personnel don't know whether the grenade "was at one time an active military hand grenade."
Police also performed a secondary search of the surrounding area for any additional explosive devices. No additional devices were found.
Nobody was injured.
Freeman said that the bomb squad secured the dud grenade as evidence and will now attempt to determine its origins. Police said they will also examine security camera footage from the store to see if they can ascertain who left the device outside the store.
Anyone with information on the person who left the grenade is asked to call the Redondo Beach Police Department at 310-379-2477.
