Update 2:15 p.m. KTVU has a pretty cool video up of those police robots that removed grenades from a garage on Potrero Avenue in San Francisco this morning. A woman had found them in a box while cleaning then called police.
The highlight comes at 1:30, when one of the robots, which looks like a cross between R2D2 and something you'd construct with an erector set, runs over one of the grenades, causing some consternation among the news anchors.
Not the most explosive story, thankfully (all the grenades were removed and the streets that had been closed re-opened). But hey...robots!
8:56 a.m. KTVU reports that all the grenades have been removed and hauled away. KQED's Kelly Wilkinson reports that streets have now been reopened.
Still no word on whether the grenades were live or not.
Update 8:54 a.m The SF Appeal has more on the story:
Grenades were found at about 7:15 a.m. in a building in the 600 block of Potrero Avenue, San Francisco police Lt. Troy Dangerfield said.
Bomb technicians were at the scene as of 8 a.m. to investigate the devices, Dangerfield said.
"We're not sure whether they're real or fake," he said....SFPD is, Dangerfield said, searching the rest of the house to see if any other devices are on the property.
Potrero Avenue has been closed between Mariposa and 19th streets, and 18th Street has been closed between Hampshire and Utah streets during the investigation, Dangerfield said.
According to KTVU broadcast, the 33 Stanyan bus is at a standstill, and the 9 San Bruno bus is being routed around the scene. As of 8:49, there was no word on when the streets would be reopened.
Update 8:24 a.m. KQED's Tara Siler is on the scene at 18th and Potrero and reports the following, told to her by two different police officers:
- The owner of a garage that has been not used in years was cleaning her garage and found a bag full of grenades there. She doesn't know who the bag belonged to.
- The one-unit building is on Potrero Avenue between 18th and 19th streets. The previous owner passed away and the current owner inherited it.
- Police are on the scene w/ a robot that is removing the grenades.
KTVU has been covering the story. WATCH LIVE