An inactive and rusted rocket that once could have carried a nuclear warhead was found in the cluttered garage of a Washington homeowner who recently died.
The discovery of the military-grade rocket sparked an urgent visit last Thursday from a local police bomb squad — which quickly determined the remnants of the missile were inert and not a danger to the surrounding area.
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A neighbor of the late homeowner told cops the deceased man initially bought the defunct equipment at an estate sale, Bellevue police said in a news release.
The police were alerted about the rocket when the National Museum of the US Air Force in Ohio contacted them last Wednesday after the neighbor offered to donate it, cops said.
The police officials determined the hunk of metal was a Douglas AIR-2 Genie, which is an unguided air-to-air rocket that is meant to carry a 1.5 kiloton W25 warhead dating back to the Cold War.
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