He’d been magnet fishing for less than 20 minutes when what he pulled up shut down a bridge

What started as a short magnet fishing session in Rhode Island turned into a bomb scare big enough to close a bridge and clear nearby buildings. The man who made the discovery said he had barely been at it before his magnet snagged something that looked very wrong.

A pointed object under the bridge changed everything

Gerard Perreault said he had been magnet fishing for less than 20 minutes in West Warwick, Rhode Island, on Thursday when he pulled up an object that stood out immediately. It was about a foot long, coated in muck and seaweed, and had a pointed end.

That was enough to make him stop treating it like an ordinary find. Perreault said he was spooked because it is not something a person expects to come across in the water. Instead of trying to deal with it himself, he lowered the object back beneath the bridge and called police.

What followed quickly spread beyond the spot where he had been fishing. Police shut down the Main Street bridge, and traffic backed up around West Warwick Avenue while bomb technicians moved in to assess the device. As officials worked, the safety perimeter widened and two nearby apartment buildings were evacuated.

For people in the area, the scene escalated fast. West Warwick resident Holly Montero said the word going around was simple and alarming: somebody had found a bomb under the bridge. She said the discovery left her pretty scared, and she wondered how something like that could have ended up there in the first place.

Traffic stalled, nearby businesses buzzed, and the perimeter grew

The response was not limited to a single blocked-off patch near the water. The Main Street bridge closure sent traffic elsewhere, creating disruption around West Warwick Avenue as authorities kept people back.

Montero described the situation as chaotic from her own point of view. She said she was in the middle of doing a DoorDash when she ran into the closure and had to go around. She also said everyone in Dunkin' was frantic and that people were going crazy as the area was being blocked off.

Perreault, who had first pulled the object out with his magnet, said the reaction made sense. A possible explosive, he said, can be very dangerous. He also said that, given the size of the device, he was not surprised officials expanded the area while they worked out exactly what they were dealing with.

The fire department later identified the object as a mortar shell, described as an explosive projectile. That confirmed why the response had been treated so seriously from the start. Authorities later moved the device to a secure location and safely detonated it.

It was not the first time Perreault had pulled explosives from the water

One reason Perreault spoke with unusual certainty about what to do next is that this was not his first encounter with military-style explosives during magnet fishing.

Back in July, he said he had already pulled hand grenades from the water near Rocky Point. After this latest discovery, he said he could not even imagine the odds of finding multiple explosive devices like that and described himself as being in complete shock. He even joked that he might need to start playing the lottery.

That earlier find gives this bridge incident an extra layer of disbelief. Magnet fishing often draws attention because people pull strange things from rivers and waterways, but Perreault has now described two separate occasions involving explosives. In this case, the second discovery was serious enough to lead to road closures, evacuations, and a controlled detonation.

His advice after both incidents was straightforward. If someone pulls up something that looks dangerous, he said, call the police and do not try to handle it yourself. Leave it alone, let professionals take over, and do not take the risk.

That caution shaped how this incident ended. Perreault did not try to carry the object away or inspect it further once he saw what he had. He lowered it back under the bridge and contacted authorities, who took over from there.

By the end of the response, the mortar shell had been removed, taken to a secure location, and safely detonated. But the image that lingers is the simplest part of the story: a man dropping a magnet into the water for an ordinary outing, then realizing that what had latched on underneath a bridge was something capable of shutting down part of a town.

What magnet fishing is

Magnet fishing is a hobby that uses a strong magnet tied to a rope to pull metal objects from rivers, canals, lakes and docks. People often find bikes, tools, safes, signs and other scrap that has sunk or been dumped.

The magnet only attracts ferrous metals, so it will not pull up everything underwater. The stronger the magnet, the more likely it is to grab heavy or awkward items. Gloves, eye protection and a secure knot matter, because sharp rusted metal and sudden snags are common.

Why some finds are risky

Not everything underwater is harmless junk. Waterways can hold knives, firearms, ammunition, gas canisters, sealed containers and old military items. Some munitions from past conflicts still turn up and can remain dangerous even after long periods in water. Corrosion can make them less stable, not more.

A suspicious item may look like a shell, grenade, flare or rusted cylinder, but appearances are not reliable. If something seems heavy, unusual or potentially explosive, do not clean it, tap it, open it or take it home.

What to do if you pull up something dangerous

Stop handling it immediately. Put distance between yourself and the object, keep other people away and call emergency services or the local police on the non emergency line if there is no immediate danger. If the item is smoking, leaking, sparking or near traffic, buildings or crowds, treat it as urgent.

For safer days out, check local rules before fishing, avoid crowded bridges and locks, and bring a bucket or tarp for ordinary scrap. If you cannot identify a find with confidence, leave it alone and report it.