California homes evacuated after World War II-era explosives found in backyard

A residential neighborhood in California was evacuated Thursday when officers discovered a cache of World War II-era explosives in the backyard of a home.

A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy was called to a Lawndale home after a report of a suspicious vehicle late Thursday evening, the Los Angeles Times reported.

A person was sitting in the vehicle with a gun and told the deputy he was on parole and found the weapon inside the home. The man told the deputy to look in the backyard.

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In the backyard, investigators found more than a dozen unexploded military ordinances from the WWII- era. ABC 30 reported investigators found “more than a dozen military ordnances, a basket full of grenades and large artillery shells, some several feet long.”

Nearby homes were evacuated for 15 hours while bomb technicians investigated the explosives. The technicians determined many of the explosives were duds but others were active.

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Authorities arrested the man found in the car in front of the residence for “possessing a loaded firearm.” Authorities determined the man was not linked to the WWII-era weapons found in the backyard of the home.

The home once belonged to a woman and her son who was a military member before they both died, the Los Angeles Times reported. It was not clear if anyone was living there at the time of the investigation or if it was abandoned. It was also not immediately clear how long the explosives were at the residence for and who they belonged to.