Oct. 4, 2023 By Michael Dorgan
The NYPD warned residents at two luxury high-rise apartment buildings on the Long Island City waterfront to stay away from windows and off balconies Wednesday afternoon after a dummy grenade was pulled from the East River.
Police received a 911 call of a grenade found near 4540 Center Blvd., a 32-story apartment building that faces the East River. The NYPD Bomb Squad was called to the scene and arrived a short time later, according to police.
Members of the Bomb Squad assessed the device and deemed it to be an “inert” dummy grenade and removed it to its facility in Rodmans Neck in the Bronx, according to authorities.
An inert grenade mimics the explosion of a live grenade by producing a small audible pop from a timed fuse, according to the U.S. Marine Corps website. It is often used as a training tool since it is hollowed out and does not explode.
Police could not say exactly how or where the device was initially discovered, although a member of the local Facebook page, Hunters Point South Waterfront Residents, wrote that it was found by someone magnet fishing, in which a person searches the water for metal devices.
A member of the group posted a notice from TF Cornerstone advising tenants at the apartment building and at the neighboring 4545 Center Blvd. high-rise to stay away from windows and off balconies as “a grenade was found in the river.”
Video posted online shows police and the NYPD Bomb Squad at the scene.
Police say an investigation into the discovery of the device is underway.
