Shoppers at a thrift store in Arkansas thought they were browsing the usual mix of old sweaters and kitchen gadgets when staff suddenly hustled everyone outside and called in the bomb squad. The scare started with an elderly woman cleaning out her late husband’s war memorabilia, a well‑intentioned donation that turned out to include grenades. It was a jarring reminder that the sentimental boxes tucked in closets and attics can sometimes hold live explosives, not just memories.
What unfolded at that Jonesboro Goodwill was dramatic enough on its own, but it also fits into a surprisingly long list of similar incidents across the country. From Florida to Idaho, people keep dropping off World War relics at donation centers, and police keep discovering that some of those relics are still very much capable of exploding.
The quiet donation that cleared out a store
In Jonesboro, the day started like any other, with bags and boxes piling up at the back of Jonesboro Goodwill. Staff sorting through the latest drop‑offs opened one container and realized they were not looking at costume jewelry or medals, but what appeared to be World War era explosives. The items had come from an elderly woman who had boxed up her husband’s war belongings, apparently unaware that anything inside might still be dangerous. Once workers spotted the suspicious objects, they stopped sorting, moved people away from the area, and called police.
The Jonesboro Police Depa responded by treating the discovery as the real thing, not a curiosity. Officers secured the scene, evacuated the store, and requested a bomb squad to examine what they believed were World War explosives sitting in the donation box. Investigators later described the items as presumed World War 2 era devices, the kind of thing that can sit untouched for decades before suddenly turning up in a thrift store back room. For the woman who donated her husband’s keepsakes, it was likely a painful but practical attempt to let go of the past. For the people working that shift, it instantly turned into a crash course in how quickly a routine donation can become a public safety problem.
Police, bomb squads, and a lot of unanswered questions
Once officers realized what they were dealing with, the response in Jonesboro followed a familiar playbook. The Jonesboro Police Depa treated the grenades as live until proven otherwise, cordoning off the area and waiting for explosives experts to make the call. According to Police, store employees did exactly what they were supposed to do: they stopped handling the items, backed away, and let trained teams take over. Officers later explained that the woman who dropped off the box did not know what was what inside her husband’s collection, which is exactly the kind of uncertainty that keeps bomb technicians up at night.
That uncertainty is why these calls are never treated as overreactions. Even when an item turns out to be inert, the risk of guessing wrong is too high. In Jonesboro, the bomb squad’s job was to identify the grenades, determine whether they were still live, and remove them safely so the store could reopen. The process can take hours, and it often leaves police with lingering questions they cannot fully answer, like how many similar items are still sitting in closets around town or how often families unknowingly move live explosives from one place to another.
Goodwill’s strange pattern of “donated” explosives
As odd as the Jonesboro scare sounds, it is not a one‑off. Donation centers have been dealing with surprise explosives for years, and Goodwill locations in particular seem to attract them. In PALATKA, Fla, officers were called after a live grenade turned up in a Goodwill donation bin on a Thursday, prompting police to block off the area and warn residents not to attempt to handle anything similar themselves. Investigators in that case stressed that anyone who finds a suspicious device should leave it where it is and call authorities, a message that came through clearly in the PALATKA incident.
Earlier, staff at a Goodwill in Colorado discovered a live World War II era grenade mixed in with other donated items. According to store officials, the device was found in a bin of donations, no other weapons were located, and the store reopened the following day after the grenade was removed. The report noted that, According to the people who run that location, the find was startling but handled quickly, with the explosive taken away and the rest of the merchandise cleared. That Colorado case, detailed in coverage of a live WWII‑era grenade, mirrors the pattern in Jonesboro: a normal donation day, a shocking discovery, and a scramble to make sure nobody gets hurt.
From Maine to Idaho, a national problem hiding in plain sight
The pattern stretches far beyond the South. In Augusta, Maine, a Goodwill store had to be evacuated after someone donated a grenade, triggering another bomb squad response. A spokesperson there put it bluntly, saying, “Unfortunately, this is oddly common. Many New Englanders collect antique weapons in their homes. We ask that people d…” The remark captured the uneasy reality that, in parts of the country where military history and gun culture run deep, it is not unusual for families to inherit boxes of old munitions without really knowing what is inside. That Maine evacuation, which unfolded at a Goodwill store in, underscored how routine these calls have become for police in the region.
On the other side of the country, The Goodwill in MOSCOW, Idaho, had to clear out not just its own building but four neighboring businesses after workers found what turned out to be a World War II era landmine in the donations. Authorities in MOSCOW, Idaho, treated the device as an explosive until specialists could confirm its status, and they later used the incident to remind residents to call police if they are not sure what an item is. The landmine discovery, documented in coverage of a World War II, showed how a single object in a donation bin can shut down an entire block until experts are sure it is safe.
Why war relics keep ending up in donation bins
Behind each of these scares is a quieter story about aging veterans, their families, and the stuff that gets left behind. The elderly woman in Jonesboro was not trying to cause trouble when she dropped off her husband’s war belongings. She was doing what countless people do when they downsize or settle an estate: boxing up uniforms, medals, and whatever else is in the trunk, then handing it to a charity that promises to put old things to good use. The problem is that some of those keepsakes are not just symbolic. They are actual grenades, landmines, or other munitions that may still be live, even if they have not been touched since the World War era.
Police and bomb technicians say that mix of sentiment and uncertainty is exactly why these incidents keep happening. Families often do not know how to tell a deactivated training grenade from a live one, or a harmless shell from a functional explosive. In Maine, the comment that “Unfortunately, this is oddly common. Many New Englanders collect antique weapons in their homes” was not just a throwaway line. It was a warning that the combination of old collections and casual decluttering can send dangerous items into the public stream. That same concern surfaced in national coverage of Hand grenades discovered in a Goodwill donation bin, where officials again stressed how frequently they see this scenario play out.
What stores and families can do differently
For thrift stores, the lesson from Jonesboro and all the other cases is simple but not easy: treat anything that looks like a weapon or explosive as real until experts say otherwise. That means training staff to recognize basic shapes and markings, giving them clear instructions to stop handling suspicious items, and building relationships with local police so they know exactly whom to call. The Jonesboro Goodwill evacuation, along with the responses in PALATKA, Augusta, Colorado, and MOSCOW, Idaho, shows that when employees follow that script, bomb squads can step in quickly and keep everyone safe, even if it means shutting down a store for the afternoon.
For families, the takeaway is more personal. If a box of war memorabilia turns up in a basement or attic, the safest move is to sort it carefully before it ever gets near a donation bin. Local police departments, veterans’ organizations, and in some cases military bases can help identify and dispose of old munitions, especially items from the World War era that might still be live. The elderly woman in Jonesboro did what many people would do with a trunk of uniforms and medals, but her experience is a reminder that some heirlooms need a different kind of goodbye. A quick call to authorities, instead of a trip to the donation drop‑off, can be the difference between a quiet clean‑out and a bomb squad parked outside the neighborhood thrift store.
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