Crime & Safety

Bomb Scare at Lake Forest Car Wash Uncovers Military Mortar Casing

Monday's bomb scare spurs a hazardous-materials response and evacuation of a small commercial plaza.

An investigation is under way into the source of a container for military ordnance found tucked away in the back of a Lake Forest car wash bay Monday morning.

After it was blown up by the Orange County Sheriff's Department bomb squad, the military mortar casing was discovered to contain sand, rather than live ammunition.

The mortar casing, discovered by the manager of the self-serve car wash on Lake Forest Drive, caused the evacuation of the small commercial plaza at Dimension for more than an hour as investigators worked to determine whether it was explosive.

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At about 10 a.m., a hazardous-materials team was dispatched to the 20700 block of Lake Forest Drive in response to a report of a suspicious object at Al's Auto Spa 24-Hour Self-Serve Car Wash.

Marc Weber, manager of the car wash at Dimension, said he discovered the out-of-place object as he cleaned out the car wash bays, checking for nails and the like.

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"I worked my way down to the last bay ... and saw this cylinder just sitting there in the corner," he said.

Not thinking much of it, he picked up the heavy metal object and began walking to a nearby dumpster to toss it in the trash.

As he walked, Weber took a closer look at the object, which he described as more than a foot long and about 2½ inches wide.

That's when he noticed the military markings—white lettering on the "dark bronze" object that read "60mm" "fuze" and, on the bottom, "mortar."

"I didn't know if it was live ... but the top was covered with black duct tape," Weber said.

Weber gingerly placed the device on the ground inside the concrete enclosure that surrounds the dumpster, with its markings facing outward so they could be easily read, and called 911.

Taking No Chances

For Weber, the find was entirely out of the ordinary.

"We've had shell casings from time to time, but it's usually hunters or something like that coming to the car wash," he said. "But this wasn't left in plain sight—it was off in the corner of the bay."

His thoughts turned to the , initiated by a Navy medic who went AWOL from Camp Pendleton and left behind writings indicating that he planned to bomb the campus.

Weber said he momentarily considered pulling the tape off to see what was inside the casing—which he estimates weighed about 5 pounds—but quickly decided against it.

"As heavy as it was, I didn't want to take any chances," he said. "I had no idea what was inside the container ... I set it down carefully and walked away."

While it's not unknown for mortar shells from World War II to be unearthed, the mortar casing that Weber found was in "really good condition," he said.

Clearing the Area

The small commercial area, which contains a store and other businesses, was evacuated for about an hour and a half so the bomb squad could investigate the potentially explosive device.

Blowing it up revealed that the mortar casing had been filled with sand, instead of live ammunition—but no leads as to its origin, which is under investigation by the OCSD.

"Why it was there, we still don't know," said OCSD bomb squad Sgt. Randy Sterett.

However, all's well that ends well for Weber.

"We just have a nice little dent in the trash can now [from the explosion]," he said with a laugh.


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