Possible WWII-era rocket discovered in Antioch yard: ‘You find something weird and ... call the cops instead of waiting to be blown up’
Thursday morning took an unusual turn for Lauren Intzekiotis when a sharp object sticking out of the ground caught her eye, not far from where her kids enjoy riding their dirt bikes at their home in unincorporated Antioch.
After a few Google Image searches and at the urging of her father, Intzekiotis said, she called Antioch police to let them know she’d pulled out what she believes was some sort of old, unexploded rocket.
Before long, the Lake County sheriff’s office and Waukegan bomb squad were on the scene to secure the device, which they believe is a World War II-era anti-tank rocket, according to a sheriff’s office news release.
Intzekiotis and her immediate neighbors in the 25000 block of West Third Street were asked to evacuate the area as a precaution, and the authorities safely removed the device for safe detonation or disposal.
“You find something weird and decide to call the cops instead of waiting to be blown up,” Intzekiotis said shortly after police cleared the scene at her home.
As a pair of helicopters hovered above the Warriner’s Shores subdivision and neighbors watched the scene from their porch across the street, a family of four drove up on ATVs to see if they could find the source of all the commotion.
“It was me!” Intzekiotis told the family, who said they were searching for where the rocket was found.
She believes the rocket reemerged from the ground after the removal of “a bunch of overgrown brush” from that part of her yard a couple of years back.
“It probably moved in the earth,” she said. “The rain the past few years and the (last) couple days kind of opened up that little spot.”
Intzekiotis said it “wasn’t very heavy or anything,” adding that she dislodged it from the dirt herself and tried to figure out what it was.
“Google Images first pulled up ‘yams,’ and I was like, ‘That’s not a yam,’” she said.
She called over a neighbor, who wondered if perhaps it was a piece of a tractor or agricultural equipment, since the land they reside on used to be farmland.
Intzekiotis estimated that Lake County sheriff’s deputies and the bomb squad were outside her home for about 90 minutes as they secured the scene, investigated the item and safely removed it to later be destroyed. She added that she asked an Antioch police officer to send a photo of the demolition if they are able to watch.
It was unclear at first if the object was inert or if it could explode, which was why the bomb squad was called to the scene.
A spokesperson for the Lake County sheriff’s office confirmed the device was safely blown up by officers on Thursday afternoon.
A twang of disappointment seeped into Intzekiotis’s voice as she recalled the day’s events, while her son Theo resumed his joyride around the yard.
“I just saw this little metal tip sticking out the end,” she said. “I didn’t want my kids to step on it. I dug it out, pulled it out and now it’s gone.”
