Londoner finds live First World War-era artillery shell

London police say a live First World War-era artillery shell found near a garbage has been safely destroyed.

Police say they were contacted at around 11 a.m. on Tuesday after local resident, Danny Vellow, called to report a military shell at the end of a nearby driveway on Centre Street.

“I hopped a fence nearby while walking to the hospital, because I wanted to grab a beer. After hopping the fence, I noticed the shell at the end of the driveway,” Danny Vellow said.

“I figured, ‘Hey, that may make a really nice lamp.’ So I tried to move it, but I couldn’t lift it because it was really heavy. So I went to the beer store, phoned the police and came back. Police showed up about 20 minutes later,” he said.

According to police, the Explosive Disposal Unit contacted the Canadian Forces Explosive Ordinance Disposal at Borden after further inspection.

“I figured, if it wasn’t loaded, I was gonna ask if I could use it as a lamp once it was deemed safe,” Vellow said.

“But police told me to go back inside because it really wasn’t safe. They called the guys in from Borden to dispose of it, and sat back really far away from the shell,” he said.

Canadian Forces determined the First World War-era shell was live and had between 20-30 pounds of explosives inside of it. The ordinance was taken back to Borden and later destroyed.

“That thing was massive, around 90 pounds, I’m sure. I’m not sure where the tenants of the home were storing it, but thank God it didn’t explode,” Vellow said.

“And you know, the old tenants moved out about a week ago, but they left that thing at the curb. The landlord should have been the one to call police a week ago, not me,” he said.

The London police are reminding residents to never handle anything that resembles a military explosive. If you do find something of that era, police ask you to immediately call 911.