German artillery from World War I found in Detroit building

Crews working to clear out two buildings at Detroit Public Works have four WWI era artillery shells, believed to be from Germany.

The four shells were found in a DPW building the 2600 block of Michigan Ave in southwest Detroit by a construction crew. They were clearing out the buildings with plans to demolish them when they came across the four of them on a wooden pallet.

One of the workers saw the shells, picked one it up - and realized what he was holding. And then called police.

"it was at that time they discovered what appeared to be projectiles of some sort. I would describe them as military ordinance," Detroit Police Sgt. Michael Woody said.

Detroit police say the four projectiles found are roughly 30 inches tall and six inches around. One of the warheads was mistakenly knocked over when it was handled.

"They're long, tubular, cylinder type - big bullets is what they are. The bomb squad went down range and determined that these projectiles are actually for WWI canons," Woody said.

A nearby building was evacuated, causing some concern for the 40 employees in the building.

SOT - CLIP 8 PATRICIA "I was trying to believe it. A bomb scare, here? It was kind of frightening but I had to maintain my calm for other employees."

A few hours later, the area was ruled safe when the bomb squad determined these were not explosive items.

"They are not explosive devices but, in fact, they are just shells." Woody said.

The bomb squad stuck around to sift through the rubble and ensure there were not anymore surprises.