--- title: "Man “Extremely Irritated” When Police Show Up to Examine His Vintage Nuclear Missile" description: "A Washington man had a nuclear missile chillin' in his garage, and was mighty peeved when local police came asking questions." date: "2024-02-05" modified: "2024-02-05" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/washington-missile-police-irritated" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "cold war" - "military" - "missiles" - "the digest" --- # Man “Extremely Irritated” When Police Show Up to Examine His Vintage Nuclear Missile ![A Washington man had a nuclear missile chillin' in his garage, and was mighty peeved when local police came asking questions.]() *\Image: Bellevue Police\* ## Bomb Squad Goals A Washington man was trying to do a good deed when a bomb squad showed up at his door — and that's not even the weirdest part of this story. In a [press release](), police in Bellevue, Washington said they sent their explosives experts out to the home of a local resident after hearing from an Air Force museum in Dayton, Ohio. According to the folks there, someone in the town had called them wanting to donate an "item that had belonged to his deceased neighbor." That item, Bellevue police soon learned, turned out to be a heavily rusted Douglas AIR-2 Genie, a Cold War-era rocket that was built to carry the type of 1.5 kiloton nuclear warheads that are, per the Pima Air & Space Museum, "[capable of blasting a bomber to bits from 1,000 feet away]()." Luckily, the missile — which the Washington resident took ownership of and stored in his own garage after finding it in the home of his late neighbor, who had purchased it years prior in an estate sale — was inert. Somewhat more incredibly, the police returned the item to the unnamed man's care, because apparently, the military didn't want it back. Although it seems the man still plans to donate the rocket to *some* museum, it's unclear whether it will be the one in Ohio. That's because, as the Washington resident [told the *BBC*](), he was "extremely irritated" that its representatives had called the local police without even warning him. ## Holy Missile It sounds like the local lawmen are ticked off as well, with a Bellevue police spokesperson telling the British outlet that "our bomb squad member asked me why we were releasing a news release on a rusted piece of metal." In a separate [interview with the *New York Times*](), the officer said that it wasn't all that unusual to get calls about smaller military artifacts given the town's proximity to Joint Base Lewis-McChord. All the same, finding a nuclear missile in the hands of a local resident was fairly rare, and Tyler said it was the first time he'd heard of such a thing in the 18 years he'd been working for Bellevue PD. "And we think it’s gonna be a long, long time before we get another call like this again," the department said in an [X-formerly-Twitter post]() that references Elton John's classic song "Rocket Man." **More on military happenings:** [*Pentagon's Ex-Alien Hunter Admits a Lot of UFO Sightings Are Secret Military Crafts*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()