Grenades turned in to Wheaton PD, safely detonated after evacuation

The Wheaton police station and several surrounding buildings were evacuated for more than an hour Wednesday afternoon after two women tried to turn in two live hand grenades.

Police Chief Mark Field said the women came into the building around 3:20 p.m. and told the person at the front desk they wanted to dispose of the grenades, which were outside in the trunk of their car.

"Fortunately, they left them out in the car," Field said.

Deputy Chief Tom Meloni said the women found the Korean War-era grenades in the home of a deceased relative.

Officers contacted the DuPage County bomb squad, who suggested the evacuation, which included the police station and several buildings across the street along Liberty Drive. A total of about 50 people were evacuated.

Meloni said the grenades were removed with a robot, which carried the explosives to a neighboring storage yard run by the public works department. Bomb squad experts safely detonated the grenades around 5:30 p.m.

During the evacuation, Liberty was closed between Commerce Drive and Carlton Street.

Field said there have been about a half dozen instances in the past 20 years in which people have turned in grenades to Wheaton police.

"Usually, some soldier brought them back from a war," Field said. "And then someone finds them cleaning out an attic."