Concord’s Pleasant Street was shut down for more than two hours Thursday night after police recovered a suspicious device at a home to which they initially responded for a medical call.
Lt. Tim O’Malley said he did not know Friday about whether the device, which was about the size of a hand grenade, was real or not. He said it “appeared to be some type of small incendiary device.”
Police responded to the home on Pleasant Street between Rumford and North Spring streets for a report of someone having a mental health issue about 7:20 p.m. The device was found on the lawn, O’Malley said.
“It was brought to our attention by a resident at that address,” he said. “There doesn’t appear to be any malicious intent toward anybody else.”
The U.S. District Court is a block away on Pleasant Street, but O’Malley said the federal courthouse does not appear to have been a target or have any connection to the incident.
City police shut down a portion of Pleasant Street shortly after 8 p.m. and notified state police’s bomb squad, which responded and secured the device, O’Malley said.
That device was rendered inert, and no other devices were located.
Police reopened the street by 11 p.m.
The incident remains under investigation. As of Friday afternoon, no one had been charged.
Concord police last dealt with a situation like this in late June, when a state employee found a suspicious package in the bushes outside the State House. That package was later determined to be a homeless person’s belongings, authorities said.
(Alyssa Dandrea can be reached at 369-3319, adandrea@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @_ADandrea.)