World War II shell found in Lake County scrap yard

Lake County authorities have discovered a World War II era U.S. military shell in a scrap yard.

In a news release, the county's sheriff's department says it first heard about the 155 mm Howitzer shell on Friday morning when the Rondout Scrap Metal Company in the Lake Bluff area reported a "suspicious item."

The release says the 2 1/2-foot long shell was laying amid piles of scrap metal.

Deputies cordoned off the area and the bomb squad contacted military officials at Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo., who sent an ordnance team to inspect the shell.

The ordnance team arrived and determined it was an empty shell and that the fuse was live.

Both items were detonated.