Sheriff’s bomb squad members descended on the Torrance Courthouse on Tuesday after a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge brought a grenade into the parking lot, authorities said.

The judge, whose identity was not released, had found the grenade while cleaning out the personal belongings of a family member, and he brought it to the courthouse hoping that a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy could examine it or take possession of it, Torrance Police Officer Ryan Schmitz said.

The Sheriff’s Department has jurisdiction over and provides security services at the 38 courthouses in the county.

After a deputy suggested the grenade may be live, the Sheriff’s Department’s bomb squad was called about 4 p.m. to the parking lot adjacent to the building, where the judge had shown the grenade to the deputy, Schmitz said.


The five-story courthouse, located in the 800 block of Maple Avenue, was not evacuated, sheriff’s Deputy Juanita Navarro said. The explosive was removed from the judge’s car and investigators were examining it, officials said.

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