Inert mortar round found in car at scrap yard in Lawton

It’s not every day you find a bomb, even if it’s inert.

But sometimes you find them more often than you’d like.

On Friday, shortly before noon, a worker at Hodges Recycling Scrap Yard, 502 SW Douglas, was clearing out a car before it was scrapped and crushed. Inside, he found a black object and didn’t know what it was.

So, according to owner Randy Hodges, he took it in the office and immediately learned it could be dangerous.

“Everybody came running out,” he said.

The employee followed and threw the object into the tall grass between a telephone box and an electrical pole and 911 was called, Randy Hodges said.

“He said it was heavy,” Randy Hodges said.

“They said it was heavy, heavy,” added Michael Hodges.

Michael Hodges said it looked like a mortar round. He took a photo and began chronicling the situation on video  to put on his Lil Mike’s Thrift & Vintage YouTube channel as Lawton police and firefighters arrived.

“I don’t work here, I’m just a YouTube reporter,” he said. “You can’t make up a story like this, this is YouTube gold.”

While awaiting the arrival of Fort Sill’s 761st Explosive Ordinance Detachment who were called to take care of the round in case it was ripe for explosion, father and son were joined by Monique Hodges and even former State Sen. Randy Bass stopped by to see what all the commotion was.

Friday’s date of April 19 was on Monique Hodges’ mind. She’d won an award for her reporting on the April 19, 1995, Murrah Federal Building bombing in Oklahoma City. She said this incident may not be as historic, although it will go into the business’ history.

The Hodges family remembered a similar situation about five years ago when an unexploded ordinance was found in a car being readied for crushing.

“It doesn’t happen often,” Michael Hodges said, “but it does happen.”

Once the Fort Sill bomb squad arrived, it took them about five minutes to collect the round and take it away for disposal, according to Marie Pihulic, Fort Sill Garrison Public Affairs Officer.

While it was definitely a bomb, in the end it was a dud.

“The object found was an inert 81mm mortar,” Pihulic said.