Grenades Found Inside Suspicious Backpack At FL School

SARASOTA, FL — Inactive grenades found inside a suspicious backpack brought to campus by a student temporarily shut down Sarasota Military Academy on Tuesday, Sarasota police said in a news release.

Officers responded to the school just after 11 a.m. after a student brought a backpack, later deemed to be suspicious, to the school.

Staff moved the backpack from inside the academy to outside the building, still on school grounds, because of safety concerns, police said.

Students and faculty members in the building closest to the backpack were moved to another area on campus as a precaution.

All students and staff were safe and nobody was hurt during the incident, police said.

Officers closed Orange Avenue between 8th Street and 10th Street while the backpack was examined.

A bomb squad from a neighboring law enforcement agency responded and found the inactive grenades inside the bag. While the grenades were real, they had been drilled out at the bottom, police said.

Investigators removed them from campus, and students and faculty returned to class.

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