Old grenade found in Goodwill donations brings safety training to life; TPD confirms it wasn't live

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Thrifting can be full of interesting donations, like vintage clothes and antique trinkets — but, what about a grenade?

Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona's First Avenue location was put to the test Monday night after employees opened a military canteen and discovered an old grenade.

Store manager Dominic Diodato said the manager on duty followed the correct procedures to call Tucson Police Department, close the store and evacuate the building while getting employees and customers to safety.

"The officer that arrived could not identify whether it was live or not, so they contacted the bomb squad," Diodato said. “The bomb squad suited up, came inside, did what they did, x-rayed the item, put it in a box and brought it out.”

TPD's EHDD team evaluated the old grenade and determined it was not live, according to TPD.

"I was a little bit worried, but once I got here and saw the amount of the officers that were here taking care of everything, I knew we were in good hands with TPD," Diodato said.

Customers like Patti Stefano heard about the news Tuesday afternoon.

“That’s scary to think, you know, what if I was in here, when it happened," said Stefano

Stefano, who frequently shops at Goodwill, showed concern about if the grenade had been live.

"What if somebody that didn't know what they were doing, and it was a live grenade, pulled the pin," Stefano asked. "You know, this Goodwill wouldn't be here right now."

But, employees are trained on situations like this every month, according to Diodato.

“We have monthly drills from fire to suspicious packages to, you name it," Diodato said. "Our safety committee is really large. All the store managers are part of it."

While this was the first time a grenade has been dropped off at this location, it's a situation that isn't as uncommon as it may seem.

“It actually happens about every nine months or so at one of our stores," said Jim Burke, Director of Safety and Loss Prevention at Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona.

Burke said whoever donated the grenade could have done it by mistake.

"Many times when folks donate, you know, they're under a certain time constraint," Burke said, "Maybe they don't go through all of the boxes that they're going to donate if they have to come from out of town or another state and take care of somebody's estate, for example."

While Goodwill doesn't explicitly tell customers not to donate grenades, Burke said they do ask if donors are aware of any weapons or ammunition in their donation.