At around 9:00am on November 9th Bates County deputies were called to assist Rich Hill Police Department on a report of a military grade mortar found in a city owned building. Apparently, an employee was looking for some tools in the building when the item was discovered. Upon arrival of Bates County deputies, contact was made with Lee’s Summit Bomb Squad who referred the call to Kansas City Bomb Squad. Bates County Deputies sent photos of the mortar to the Kansas City Bomb Squad who referred the call to EOD Specialists out of Ft. Riley Kansas.
Rich Hill Police Officials have cordoned off the area while awaiting the arrival of the Ft. Riley EOD Specialist. Assistance is also being provided by the National Guard Unit out of Camp Clark in Nevada.
On Tuesday evening the US Army Bomb squad from FT. Riley Kansas did a controlled explosion of the military grad mortar.
US Army Bomb squad detonated a live mortar round found earlier on Tuesday. It’s reported that this was originally found approximately a year ago and placed on a shelf and forgotten.
The area was deemed safe and emergency crews cleared the area.
