LUZERNE, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — 28/22 News has the latest on a massive amount of explosives found inside a Luzerne County home. The discovery Friday ended with a New Jersey bomb squad collecting hundreds of military ordnances.
28/22 News has now learned more information about the collection and what a neighbor has to say about it.
The Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Unit had to make two trips to the home to collect roughly 300 military weapons and ammunition.
A veteran who passed away in late March owned the ordnances. The sheer number of them is what is so shocking.
Video shows just some of what the Fort McGuire Military Bomb Squad removed from a home in Luzerne Borough.
Missiles, artillery shells, and grenades were carried out and carefully placed on the ground outside the home along the 300 block of Bennett Street.
"It's definitely a collection they have been working on for a very long time," Luzerne Borough EMA Director Jason Tarreto said.
The woman who owns the home discovered the more than 25-year-old collection Friday afternoon when she was cleaning.
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Police say it all belongs to her boyfriend, who passed away late March.
Jason Tarreto says items date back to the Korean War and even before World War II.
Neighbor Daniel Harrison, who lives a couple of doors down from the source of the commotion, was home when authorities first arrived on scene.
"Nobody seemed overly worried, so I also wasn't overly worried," Harrison explained.
Tarreto says there was a mix of ammunition, weapons, and apparel, including uniforms, helmets, and swords.
He says some of it even had tags attached as if it came from a flea market.
Tarreto and police tell me that's one way to obtain these kinds of ordnances besides bringing them home from the battlefield.
"Everyone has their own hobbies, and that was his," Harrison added.
Harrison says he didn't know his middle-aged neighbor very well or anything about his military experience.
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He says until Friday, he didn't know such a cache of explosives could exist in the home either.
"It was a unique day to say the least," Harrison continued.
Unique, too, considering the size of the collection.
"We've had a handful of calls in the past where somebody found an old grenade," Tarreto said.
Those calls are typically handled by the Scranton Bomb Squad, which also assisted in this discovery, but too much for them to handle alone.
"Even the EOD. They say it's been years since anything like this has come up, and the last time they saw it wasn't in a house like this," Tarreto added.
Taretto says if you should ever come across any military ordnance: Do not touch it.
Instead, call your local police department so that proper action can be taken.
