WARREN TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WKBN) – “Here we go again” — that’s the reaction from the two magnet fishers who found what is believed to be a large mortar round in the Mahoning River over the weekend.
Jason Vanderwal and Randy Burns were on a bridge on Nelson Mosier Road casting lines Sunday when they found something that triggered a response from the bomb squad. They were recording on a cell phone when they made the discovery.
Vanderwal: “It looks like a lamp or something.”
Burns: “Woah.”
Vanderwal: “What?”
Burns: “Woo.”
Vanderwal: “Oh geez, Louise, dude,”
Burns: “Yo.”
Vanderwal: “That’s a mortar round.”
“I just looked at him and was like are you kidding me? We just got here, and here we go again,” Burns said.
It was the first time this duo from Detroit was magnet fishing in the Mahoning River from that particular spot.
“We had, basically, found it on Google Maps,” Vanderwal said.
Vanderwal and Burns also recorded their call to police to report what they’d found.
Officer: “Warren Township Police.”
Vanderwal: “Hi, my name is Jason Vanderwal. I’m magnet fishing, cleaning garbage out of the waterways using large magnets, and I’m pretty sure I just pulled up a large mortar round.”
“This one was completely intact, We’re not EOD experts, so we decided to let the professionals take care of it,” Vanderwal said.
The Youngstown Bomb Squad responded to the area and took possession of the mortar round.
Vanderwal says in his three years of magnet fishing, he’s probably found six or seven explosives.
“It’s become common, lately. He’s on a roll, I have to say,” Burns said.
Vanderwal and Burns say they plan to be back in the Youngstown area magnet fishing this coming weekend.
