Boy Unearths Live Military Mortar in California Backyard, Forcing Evacuations

The homeowner’s son had been digging when he unearthed what the family feared might be a live military mortar.

Published: 4/9/2026, 10:26:22 PM EDT

Boy Unearths Live Military Mortar in California Backyard, Forcing Evacuations — Mortar shells in a file photo. (Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images)

A family in Sacramento County, California, was startled after their 8-year-old son uncovered a live military mortar round while digging in their backyard. Shortly afterward evacuations were ordered, and the incident triggered a response from local deputies, bomb technicians, and the U.S. Air Force, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office.

The find was reported over the weekend in the unincorporated community of Carmichael, where North Patrol deputies were called to a home about a “possible explosive device” found in the yard, the Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post on Monday. The homeowner’s son had been digging when he unearthed what the family feared might be a live military mortar.

Authorities evacuated nearby residents while the Sacramento Sheriff’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal team was brought in to examine the device. After bomb technicians assessed the object and confirmed it was a piece of legitimate military ordnance, the U.S. Air Force was also called to the scene, authorities said.

The device was identified as a live 81mm mortar. The mortar was removed and destroyed “without incident,” officials said, ending the immediate danger but leaving lingering questions about how such a weapon ended up in a suburban yard.

It remains unclear how the explosive came to be buried at the property, but Carmichael sits within roughly a dozen miles of two former U.S. Air Force installations in Sacramento County—Mather Air Force Base and McClellan Air Force Base. Both bases played roles in the region’s military history before being closed and redeveloped.

The Carmichael incident follows other recent incidents involving explosives surfacing in civilian settings, far from active battlefields. In March, federal agents in Pennsylvania conducted controlled detonations after finding explosive residue as part of an investigation into two men accused of bringing homemade bombs to a protest outside the New York City mayor’s residence. The explosion resulted in "several loud bangs,” but authorities stressed there was no ongoing threat to residents, the Middletown Township Police Department said at the time.

Emir Balat, 18, and Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, told police after they were arrested that they were inspired by the Islamic State group, according to a criminal complaint. The men live in the Philadelphia suburbs and drove to New York City together to carry out the attack near Gracie Mansion in Manhattan

Weeks later, a small explosive device discovered near the door of an apartment building in suburban White Plains, New York, sparked hours of investigation by city and county police, FBI agents, and federal explosives experts. Residents had reported loud booms overnight and were told to stay indoors while the Westchester County Police Bomb Squad and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives worked the scene. The FBI later said there was no threat to public safety.