Bill Laitner

Detroit Free Press

A demolition crew about to raze an old warehouse today in Detroit almost got unwanted help — from century-old artillery shells.

Each of the four shells weighed 150 pounds and dated from World War I, Detroit police Sgt. Michael Woody said.

“They were possibly used in the Navy,” Woody said.

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The demo crew had been about to tear down an old warehouse inside the city of Detroit's street maintenance and traffic engineering complex, which includes a road-salt depot, at 2633 Michigan Ave., just west of Corktown and three blocks from Slow’s BarBq restaurant.

After the discovery, the demolition was halted, city trucks were told to stay away and police evacuated the DPW office, which has a glass front that would've sprayed glass shards in the event of an explosion, Woody said. Luckily, the shells were duds.

"Our bomb squad investigated and determined this military ordnance was not in fact live,” Woody said.

Still, when it comes to a 150-pound military shell, it’s smart to invoke that old rule about taking an ounce of prevention, he said. And, as with deer, so with military ordnance — if you see one, expect more.

“Our bomb squad conducted a full search of the compound to see if there were any additional items of ordnance,” Woody said. There were none.

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"All’s clear over there,” Woody said, and the demo crew was back by 3 p.m. — doing slowly and safely the same thing those shells might’ve done in, well, a split second.

Contact Bill Laitner: 313-223-4485 or blaitner@freepress.com