Live, improvised bomb found outside Lathrop Senior Center, sheriff says

A small but live bomb was found outside a San Joaquin County senior center Thursday, the sheriff’s office said in a social media post.

At 11 a.m., police received a report of a “suspicious device” near a picnic table outside the Lathrop Senior Center. The device was described as a small bottle with wires extending out of it.

Lathrop Police responded to the scene and evacuated the area. An Explosive Ordinance Disposal team also responded and completed a search for additional devices, the sheriff’s office said. No others were located.

The device was determined to be a cricket bomb, which is an improvised explosive device, according to the post.

The EOD team secured the bomb and transported it to a safe place where it was properly detonated.

Cricket bombs are small and easy to conceal, and can be very dangerous, the sheriff’s office said.

“Despite not being a large explosive, anyone handling one of these devices could certainly be extremely injured by it,” the sheriff’s office said. “We recommend that if you ever come across a device such as this one, that you contact our office immediately and leave it up to the professionals to handle it.”