With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Woman's World War I weapons shut down city center

Police evacuated City Hall and shut down busy Beach Boulevard on Tuesday afternoon after an elderly woman turned up with a carload of World War I era rifles and shells.

The woman told police she had discovered the antique weapons when she cleaned out her garage. Her late husband – who died 20 years ago – had apparently collected them, Buena Park Police Sgt. Bill Kohanek said.

The woman took the weapons – which included rifles, handguns and bayonets – to the Police Department to turn them in. But what worried officers were "quite a few shells – large-caliber, military ordinance" that she also had brought in her car, Kohanek said.

Some of the shells were still in their original boxes, so police could not determine by looking at them whether they were still live....
Read entire article at Orange County Register