New York Court Receives Hand Grenade in Mail

According to a report by Greg Cotterill of Finger Lakes Daily News, a New York court received two suspicious packages on Tuesday, one of which contained a hand grenade.

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The suspicious packages were delivered to the Geneva Town Court on Tuesday and when they were x-rayed, a hand grenade was discovered in one of the boxes.

According to Cotterill's report, the court building, public safety building, the Hampton Inn next door and the surrounding area were evacuated as bomb experts evaluated the situation. Later on in the day, a loud boom was heard as the bomb experts destroyed the packages.

Authorities did not give the exact cause of the explosion, but Christian Garzone of WROC noted that people in the area believed they heard the bomb squad yell "fire in the hole" just before the explosion. A report by Garzone and Hailie Higgins of WROC indicated that the bomb squad intended to cut into the box before the boom was heard by people in the surrounding area. It is unknown if it was the grenade that exploded or if the bomb squad utilized other means ti dispose of the packages.

The report did not indicate if anything suspicious was found in the second box as well. One person was arrested in connection with the incident, but authorities have not released any further information about that arrest or the motivation behind mailing the hand grenade to the building. The building appears to be open today following the frightening situation that caused an evacuation of the area on Tuesday afternoon.