MT. JULIET, Tenn (WTVF) — It was a scary discovery in a mid-state backyard, and fortunately, the weapon of war discovered by a Mt. Juliet building inspector was inactive.
However, it was enough to send the military to an Mt. Juliet neighborhood.
A city building inspector typically looks at the foundation of a home to make sure the walls are safe but the chief deputy codes inspector instead found the military device sitting inside a shed in a backyard on Belinda Parkway.
It was just after 11:30 a.m. when the police were quickly called as officers created a perimeter around the home.
The next call was to the Tennessee Highway Patrol's bomb squad and the Explosive Ordnance Disposal or EOD Group at Fort Campbell.
"We had one of our building inspectors, our deputy chief codes official, doing an inspection on some residential construction down the street here around 300 block, and he came across what appears to be some type of tank ordnance — a bomb. It has all the bomb features that you see plus some fins on the back end of it," said Fire Chief Jamie Luffman.
Luffman says the home is being renovated.
"It's in very bad shape, rusted. It's got some holes drilled through it. We're hopeful that the core is empty. But the cap is still on."
The device dating as far back as Vietnam or Korean War shocked the neighborhood.
"A 60- or 70-year-old antiwar type and missile or attack or explodable device, yes. It is not a good description of this neighborhood in the 30 years that I've lived here," said Joe Shibley.
Shibley has lived here for 30 years and he says this is a first.
"This is very strange, unpredictable sort of a thing, but I think life is full of those in my age. What I've been through and others my age and even others younger."
EOD group from Fort Campbell gave the all-clear as the device was determined to be inactive, and it was collected.
Luffman says the device is a collector's item and EOD determined it was disarmed in a professional manner.
