While police were investigating a reported bomb threat at a local bank Friday afternoon, they received a second bomb-related call after a local business reportedly found a smoke bomb on its property.
Shortly after 4 p.m. Friday, police responded to the OmniSource recycling center at 808 N. Lynn Ave. after an employee reported finding the military-grade ordnance.
Wes Martin, safety coordinator with OmniSource, told police the company had unknowingly accepted a bomb as scrap earlier in the day, Elizabethton Police Department Cpl. Ryan Brackett said in his report.
Martin took officers to location where employees found the device, which Brackett described as being gray with yellow letters and multiple wires sticking out of the top.“Mr. Martin stated that the gentleman that had scraped the object was cleaning a barn and had other scrap metal in the bed of his pickup truck,” Brackett said. Martin gave the name and address for the man who brought the item in to police.
The EPD called the Johnson City Police Department and requested help from their bomb squad, who identified the object as a U.S. Navy smoke screen generator for a ship and said the device could still be active. The bomb squad took possession of the device to dispose of it safely.