A resident of East Oakland spotted what turned out to be a Vietnam-era grenade early Friday morning, quickly prompting a shutdown of a portion of International Boulevard.
But about 5 a.m., Oakland police and the Alameda County Sheriff's Bomb Squad reopened the road near 48th Avenue because they deemed the grenade "inert." It was first spotted about 4 a.m.
Bomb squad technician Ray Kelly told NBC Bay Area that his unit could tell "right away" that the old grenade had no functioning parts, but given what happened, they wanted to be extra careful.
"Someone might have thrown it out of their car to scare someone," he said.
NBC Bay Area has an exclusive image of the grenade.
