Authorities detonate grenades found in Oak Creek home

OAK CREEK (WITI) -- Officials detonated live hand grenades in a remote area in Oak Creek Tuesday night, March 18th after they were located in the attic of a home.

According to officials, an Oak Creek resident called police after they found what they believed were hand grenades inside their attic. Upon arrival, Oak Creek officials contacted the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office for their EOD unit.

Once on scene, they deemed that the items were live and in unstable condition. The grenades were estimated to be about 40 years old.

Officials safely removed the items from the home, however, due to their unstable nature, police say the grenades had to be disposed of immediately to ensure public safety.

The grenades were taken to a remote area in Oak Creek and detonated in a safe manner to ensure no injuries.

The grenades were detonated at approximately 9:30 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. -- which caused two large detonation 'reports' to be heard and in the close proximity, to be felt.

Caroline Cyganiak told officials the box where the grenades were located belonged to her late husband.

"I didn't know if they could explode or not," said Cyganiak. "Scared the living daylights out of me."

"I'm sure it would have damaged that house extensively and probably injured anyone within a radius. That's what they're meant to do. They are weapons of war. They are meant to kill with fragments," said Oak Creek Police Chief John Edwards.

The Oak Creek Police Department received more than 40 calls from people who felt or heard the blasts.