The Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) partnered with officials from the Tyndall Air Force Base to detonate a World War II-era bomb near the campus of Florida State University late Wednesday.
The decades-old explosive was discovered by construction workers near the site of a soon-to-be-built five-story student apartment complex.
TPD officers quickly rushed to the scene where the bomb was found and evacuated the designated blast zone.
The Air Force crew quickly went to work digging a deep hole. The bomb was buried in the ground before it was detonated around 9:30 p.m.
A spokesman for North American Properties, the company that recently purchased the land, said the bomb fell out of the roots of a tree as workers pulled it from the ground.
The construction site manager alerted his superior, who contacted Shawn McIntyre, a partner at North American Properties. McIntyre contacted local law enforcement.
“We take the safety of our workers and contractors very seriously,” McIntyre said, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. “Our team followed proper procedure upon recognizing the potential hazard. Thanks to their actions, we will be able to take every precaution to ensure the area is clear of any threat before moving forward.”
Experts have since been brought in to ensure that the contraction site is clear of similar explosive devices.
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson.
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