Chaos briefly reigned in the neighborhood of San Gabriel Valley when possible grenades were discovered at a vacant home adjacent to Ralph Waldo Emerson Elementary School. The unsettling find, which took place near Jackson Avenue and Emerson Place, prompted a large law enforcement response and caused the school to initiate a lockdown on Wednesday afternoon. CBS Los Angeles reported that the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department was alerted to the suspicious items around 12:20 p.m., following their discovery by a crew working nearby.
As the situation unfolded, deputies put in place safety protocols, and a group of concerned parents was seen assembling outside the school's main entrance, captured by SkyCal from above. Despite the alarming circumstances, students were allowed to depart from the school around 3 p.m. Later, it was confirmed by deputies to CBS LA that the incident had been resolved before 4 p.m.
Additional details provided by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, as relayed by KTLA, included the exact location of the vacant house in the 3100 block of Jackson Avenue and confirmation that two objects believed to be grenades were the cause of the alarm. The discovery led to the lengthy precautionary lockdown of the Ralph Waldo Emerson Elementary School, which generously shares a border with the property in question.
The items, initially described as "replica grenades" by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, appeared to be improvised. Still awaiting further analysis, they were deemed safe enough for transport away from the location, said LASD officials in a statement obtained by CBS LA. No evacuation was deemed necessary, and while seen stationed at the residential area, even vehicles from the bomb squad were sent to help manage the event, as per the footage aired by NBC Los Angeles.
Ultimately, the Arson and Explosives Detail detectives took charge of the situation, working to ascertain the exact nature of the items. "The grenades were safe to be transported away from the location to render safe and for disposal," the department stated in a release provided to NBC Los Angeles, reassuring the community that the potential threat had been neutralized and normalcy restored.
