Building a Border Yields Hidden Mortar

Jacksonville, Florida The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office (JSO) Bomb Squad responded to a home in South Metro when a 19-year-old resident discovered a suspect munition while doing yard work. Six homes were evacuated while they investigated the property which once belonged to a retired JSO bomb technician who had previously been arrested on explosives charges.

The 19-year-old, niece of the retired tech, recently moved into the home and pulled up the mortar round while digging up bricks to make a border in the yard. Technicians determined the ordnance to be a practice round and removed it. They searched the home for additional explosives but did not find anything.

Concerns that other items may remain in the home were legitimized by the fact that her uncle, since deceased, was arrested in 2001 after investigators found boxes of old dynamite and hundreds of pounds of C-4 a storage unit belonging to him. On this occasion, police were forced to evacuate the area and close sections of nearby Interstate 95 for several hours.