Bombs Away! WWII Explosive Unearthed In Tallahassee
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TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/AP) - An explosive find at a construction site near the Florida State University campus in Tallahassee.
A World War II bomb fell out of the roots of a tree as workers were pulling it from the ground. It was found less than a mile away from the capitol building.
An Air Force explosives team was called in to detonate it.
Several streets around the construction site were cordoned off with yellow tape, and officers blocked traffic and pedestrians from approaching. An ambulance and a firetruck were on standby.
In a multistory apartment just beyond the yellow caution tape, women on several floors hung out of their windows asking officers questions, including how big the potential bomb is. An officer stretched both arms wide.
"Will we be notified if there's a concern?" a student yelled from a second-story window. An officer replied, "The entire building will be evacuated."
The neighborhood was cleared, a large hole was dug and the bomb covered in dirt to ensure fragments wouldn't be sent flying. The blast shook buildings within a few blocks of the site.
"It was like really loud thunder, and you could hear the windows shake," said Shannon Glassner, a Florida State sophomore who lives in a sorority house about three blocks from the site. "A couple of people screamed. I could hear them come out of their rooms and run into the hallways."
Glassner said that Florida State sent an email to students just moments before the bomb was detonated.
"I had just read it, and about 15 seconds later it went off," she said, adding she wasn't particularly frightened by the blast. "I'm more just amused, and I'm worried about if there's going to be any more and how that was overlooked before."
The 325th Explosive Ordinance Disposal Flight out of Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City confirmed it was a World War II-era bomb. Police haven't indicated how it came to be there. The Museum of Florida History website says Tallahassee had an airfield during WWII that was used for training.
(TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
