A utility crew found an old piece of military ordnance Monday afternoon in Tierrasanta.
San Diego Gas & Electric personnel came across the roughly 3-inch-diameter mortar shell near a power substation in the 11000 block of Tierrasanta Boulevard about 1 p.m. and notified police, SDPD spokesman Humberto Hernandez said.
Officers investigated, then called in the Metro Arson Strike Team, which in turn handed the situation over to the Marine Corps. No evacuations or road closures were necessary, Hernandez said.
It was unclear if the mortar round was live.
Much of Tierrasanta occupies land that once was the site of Camp Elliott, a 26,000-acre USMC, Navy and Air Force base from 1940 through 1961.
During World War I, some of the same terrain was within Camp Kearny, an Army training facility that eventually gave its name to the surrounding mesa.
Discoveries of military ordnance have been a problem in the area at times. In 1983, two 8-year-old boys died when an artillery shell they found near a trail in the neighborhood exploded.
— City News Servic
