MOUNT VERNON — Mount Vernon Police, responding to a domestic call at 4:59 this morning, found a hand grenade in the apartment at 743C Shalimar Drive. The Mount Vernon Fire Department was called to the scene where firefighters evacuated all of the residents from the four-unit building.
Assistant Fire Chief Chris Menapace said American Electric Power was called to cut off power to the unit to avoid any secondary damage in the event of an explosion. A call was put in to the Ashland County Sheriff’s bomb squad, which arrived at 7:45 a.m. The squad retrieved the grenade from the apartment and took it to the open field at the corner of Upper Gilchrist and Yauger roads, where the police and fire departments cordoned off the field. Menapace said the bomb squad took the grenade into the field and disassembled it to discover there were no explosives in it. The departments left the scene at 8:25 a.m.
