A “World War II Japanese-style hand grenade“ found by a Port Orchard Goodwill employee closed that business — and several that surrounded it — for about two hours on May 7.

Port Orchard Police Chief Geoffrey Marti, who provided that description, said his department received an emergency call at 1:15 p.m. from Goodwill.

“They were requesting law enforcement because one of their employees was sorting through donated goods and found what they believed to be a hand grenade,” Marti said. “It appeared to be an older-style hand grenade and had a pin that was still intact.”

Based on that analysis, Marti said Goodwill, which is located at 1720 SE Mile Hill Drive, and surrounding businesses were evacuated and assistance was requested from the bomb squad. Marti said two agents from that organization were able to respond quickly because they were in Bremerton.

“Operating under the assumption that this is a live grenade, they transported it to a secure residence [for evaluation],” he said.

A Goodwill employee posted a sign that the store would be “temporarily closed” at 2:20 p.m. The Goodwill and surrounding businesses reopened later in the afternoon.

Marti said the investigation will be ongoing and did not have a timeline to reach a resolution.

“We are investigating to see if we can find out how this grenade ended up in their donation box and if we can find the person,” he said. “We don’t think this was nefarious, but we won’t know until we complete our investigation.”

Marti believes there are multiple ways the person who delivered the grenade can be identified. He said that items donated along with the grenade could provide a link, or perhaps more realistically, a surveillance camera might have captured video of the incident.

Sometimes, Marti said, family members inherit an item that is illegal or dangerous. But he said the police need to be contacted about a potentially explosive device.

“They shouldn’t take any kind of explosive pipeline anywhere,” Marti said. “You just don’t know over time how they may become more volatile.”

Goodwill spokesperson Katherine Boury said it is rare for one of the company’s stores to contact police based on donations. But she noted that occurred last June when human skulls were discovered at the Bellevue Goodwill. In that case, coroners at the King County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that two of the adult skulls were used in a medical clinic or for instruction. They also believed the third was extremely old and appeared to be the fragile remains of a Native American child.

Boury said Goodwill locations sometimes receive other odd donations in their drop boxes, such as cremation urns that contain ashes.

“We don’t even know if they intended to donate it,” she said.

Boury said Goodwill accepts many items, including torn clothes. For more information, visit http://www.amazinggoodwill.com/donating/donor-guidelines