NORTH PORT, Fla. — A suspicious item found in the city of North Port turned out to be a WWI anti-ship round that police say a man tried to sell.
The North Port Police Department explained the man tried to take the missile to a nearby pawn shop to try to get some money for it Tuesday afternoon. But he was told it could be dangerous and eventually called the police.
Explosive experts with the North Port Police Department, Sarasota Police Department and MacDill Air Force Base went out to the scene and took the missile.
Authorities say the missile was never fired before.
Some people may be wondering what exactly happened to the missile – and while there's no actual answer, the Federal Bureau of Investigation says most war devices are handled by professionals.
"...If the ordnance is a U.S.-made device, the bomb squad has the experience and knowledge to handle it," the law enforcement agency explains on its website. "They place it in a containment vessel and take it to a bomb range for safe disposal. If the device was manufactured in another country, the bomb squad often calls in the U.S. military for expert assistance."
Some families of U.S. war veterans are finding these unexpected souvenirs among their loved one’s belongings.
“Usually what happens is when a veteran passes away, and family members are cleaning out their items, usually in a basement, garage, or attic, they’ll come across something that they know or suspect is a military ordnance,” Special Agent Patrick Carolan, a bomb technician with the FBI’s St. Louis Field Office, explained to the FBI. “They call their local police, and we work with the police department’s bomb squad.”
