Pocono News Section

Bomb Scare In Wilkes-Barre

Bomb Scare In Wilkes-Barre - Friday, October 19, 2007 at 5:34PM EST

Friday, Oct 19, 2007 @05:34pm EST

Tense moments on Hazle Street in Wilkes-Barre this morning.

A neighborhood shut down while a bomb squad removed an artillery shell from a house.

It was an old Vietnam era artillery shell found in the basement of a vacant home on Hazle Street.

It was about 3 feet tall, and 5 inches wide, but caused a huge scare.

Here's a look at how the bomb squad handled it.

An artillery shell is carefully taken out of this home on Hazle street in Wilkes-Barre.

It's put into the Scranton police department's bomb squad truck, to be detonated in a safe area.

Realtor Terry Solomon found the shell Friday morning.

"i come across a lot of crazy things. This was the craziest," says Solomon.

Solomon found the shell in the basement, and called police.

Emergency crews, and the bomb squad moved in.

Luzerne County Emergency Management coordinator Stephen Bekanich says, "we treat any device, until proven otherwise, as a live explosive."

Solomon says and elderly man moved out of the house weeks ago.

But today, all eyes were on the bomb squad removing the shell.

It was taken here, to a coal breaker in Ashley, to be safely blown up.

Our cameras were only allowed to get so close, but we heard the controlled explosion. everything went off safely.

Detective Ron Foy of the Wilkes-Barre Police Department says, “everything was fine. Nobody got hurt. Everybody's going home with 10 toes and 10 fingers, so that's the most important best part."

Back on Hazle Street, neighbors are just glad it didn't blow up next to them.

When these two heard a possible live artillery shell could be next door..

"we weren't really sure if we wanted to stand out here or not! Let's just put it that way!" It's just crazy that they didn't find it a long time ago, and they're just now finding it," says Holly Brill of Hazle Street.

But now the shell is blown to pieces, and this neighborhood can rest safe.

Wilkes-Barre police say they're not going to charge former homeowner with anything.

He says he doesn't remember how it got there.

They said he even tried to come back to claim the bomb before the bomb squad took it away.

Of course emergency crews quickly told him no.