BROOKSVILLE, Fla. — An investigation is ongoing into the Tuesday afternoon discovery of a 1,000-pound World War II-era bomb in Hernando County.
Sheriff's office deputies are clearing the scene on Helicopter near Flight Path drives at the Brooksville-Tampa Bay Regional Airport and Industrial Park, the agency posted on Facebook.
The sheriff's office bomb team "completed its assessment and determined the ordnance to be inert."
A team from MacDill Air Force will help dispose of the bomb.
It's speculated that the found device could be a Mark 65 bomb. Hernando County Sheriff Al Nienhuis explained that the area where the device was found is a former military airfield where B-17 and B-24 bombers operated.
Deputies say they received a call before 3 p.m. from a construction company in the area working to build the foundation of a technical college, Nienhuis said.
This type of bomb was used against reinforced targets, like dams or other concrete and steel structures, according to the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
Spring Hill Drive between U.S. Highway 41 (Broad Street) and California Street was closed for several hours but has since reopened. Authorities have cleared the scene.
Bomb squads from Citrus County and MacDill Air Force Base will join the investigation.