Grenade donation gives Goodwill workers a scare, leads to evacuation

A Goodwill store in Southern California got a holiday scare when workers discovered a grenade in a box of donations.

Workers at the Goodwill Thrift Store in Placentia, a neighborhood southeast of Los Angeles, told police Wednesday that an elderly woman dropped off the box of belongings and left. As workers sorted through the box later, they discovered the grenade.

Police evacuated the shopping center along Imperial Highway. The Orange County Sheriff’s bomb squad and the county Fire Department responded to store and retrieved the grenade.

The incident was reported at 2:17 p.m. and the area declared safe about 4 p.m., Placentia police said.