The State - News from Nov. 19, 1986

Police evacuated several blocks of South Sacramento while they dismantled a package with four World War II-type fragmentation grenades. Police Sgt. Bob Burns said the cardboard box was discovered by the manager of a private mail facility. The grenades were attached by wire to a battery and there was a spring-loaded mechanism that presumably could have pulled the safety pins, detonating the grenades, Burns said. Store manager Albert Araiza, 24, said the box had remained unclaimed for 30 days before he began to open it. He said he stopped when he noticed six neatly creased dollar bills, apparently placed in the package as an enticement. “It looked too perfect. . . . I guess maybe I had another inch to pull and the thing would have gone off,” Araiza said. “Right now, I just feel like I should go out and have a stiff drink.” He told police that a man in his 30s dropped off the package on Oct. 9. It was returned because the addressee could not be found.