WWII mortar prompts evacuations in Rowlett

ROWLETT, Texas - A busy stretch of the President George Bush Turnpike was shut down for hours on Monday while the bomb squad worked to safely remove a piece of unexploded military ordinance.

The 81-millimeter World War II mortar was in a neighborhood that backs up to the turnpike. Rowlett police said a man found it and drove it to a house on Bayonne Drive. For safety reasons, an area 600 feet around the house was evacuated midday.

The Garland PD bomb squad determined the mortar was live and detonated it in a field away from the neighborhood.

After the bomb was removed from the home, people were allowed back into their homes.