Goodwill evacuated after grenade is found in donation box, Illinois cops say

Among hundreds of recently donated items at a Goodwill store in Illinois was one particular object that brought out the police.

This donated item — a grenade — sent Round Lake Beach police to the donation center on Saturday, Feb. 11, according to a police news release.

The store was evacuated, but the artifact was determined to be a training grenade, an item usually hollowed out and available for purchase on the internet, police said.

Officers noted concerns, however, as the grenade contained a small plug in the “hollowed out section of the grenade,” the news release says.

An X-ray machine used by the Waukegan Bomb Squad discovered that the grenade was not active and the public was not in danger.

But it remains unclear how the grenade ended up in the donation pile.

“People should never donate firearms or diffused explosive devices to these places,” Round Lake Beach Police Chief Wayne Wilde said. “People who find or wish to discard these items should contact their local police instead and the police department will assist in the safe removal of these devices if needed.”

Round Lake Beach is about 50 miles northwest of Chicago.

This story was originally published February 16, 2023 at 12:56 PM with the headline "Goodwill evacuated after grenade is found in donation box, Illinois cops say."