Live hand grenade disposed of in Silver Valley

An explosives disposal team disposed Sunday evening of a live hand grenade a Wallace resident found while going through the property of a relative who had recently died. The resident called the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office at 1:08 p.m. to report finding the explosive in the home off of Burke Road, a news release from the sheriff’s office said. Deputies determined the explosive was an older variety hand grenade and requested assistance from the U.S. Air Force Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team, stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base. The explosives team determined that the hand grenade was live and took it to a public shooting range in Smelterville. Using explosives, the team disposed of the grenade at about 11:30 p.m. in a controlled explosion. The shooting range was closed at the time. Deputies are still trying to determine how the deceased relative obtained the hand grenade. No other explosives were found at the home. The grenade was identified as a U.S. issued Mk II fragmentation hand grenade, which were given to armed forces during World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars.