Photo: Bellevue Police Department
Authorities in Washington state discovered a military-grade missile inside the garage of a residence recently. The Bellevue Police Department said their bomb squad responded to what they described as an "unusual call" on Wednesday, January 31.
This surprising tale began when they received a call from an Air Force museum in Dayton, Ohio about a Bellevue resident who was interested in donating the massive bomb, which belonged to a deceased neighbor. Police revealed the neighbor bought the rocket from an estate sale.
The police department's patrol division and bomb squad responded to the resident's house to examine the rusted explosive. Officials determined the rocket was inert and contained no rocket fuel, meaning there was no explosive hazard.
"Bomb squad members inspected the object and then learned that it was in fact a Douglas AIR-2 Genie (previous designation MB-1), an unguided air-to-air rocket that is designed to carry a 1.5 kt W25 nuclear warhead. There was no warhead attached," police wrote.
According to the U.S. Air Force Museum, the Douglas AIR-2 Genie was first test-launched in 1956.
"We think it's gonna be a long, long time before we get another call like this again," officers remarked in a social media post.
Officers said they left the missile with the neighbor to restore the artifact for display at the museum.