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Nuclear missile found in Bellevue backyard

Don’t worry — its inert.

A police officer stands behind the Cold War era Douglas AIR-2 Genie missile that was found in a Bellevue resident's garage. The officer rightfully is holding a facial expression that looks a little in disbelief.

That police officer is making the face we all would have made standing next to this missile.

Photo via Bellevue Police Department

Here’s a local bombshell — the Bellevue Police Department (BPD) recently found remnants of a Cold War-era nuclear missile in a Bellevue resident’s backyard.

Don’t worry — it’s safe.

The old missile belonged to a man in Bellevue who died recently. His neighbor was handling the man’s estate and called an Air Force museum in Dayton, Ohio about the unusual artifact hanging out in the garage.

Out of precaution, the museum called BPD and a bomb squad went to the deceased Bellevue man’s residence. Authorities then identified the missile as a Douglas AIR-2 Genie — the world’s first nuclear-armed rocket built in 1957 to shoot down airborne targets.

Thankfully, there was no nuclear warhead attached or rocket fuel in the missile. This was “just a rusted piece of metal,” said one BPD officer.

The US military didn’t want it back, so it’s now left up to the man’s neighbor to decide its donation destination.

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