An unexpected delivery - a mortar shell - caused some excitement Tuesday at the Douglas County Judicial & Law Enforcement Center. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were called in to help dispose of the shell. The ATF agent at center is holding the shell in his left hand.

A man unwittingly caused a scare Tuesday by bringing a mortar shell to the Douglas County Judicial & Law Enforcement Center.

Deputies taped off the area where the shell had been left, draped a bulletproof vest over it and called for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to come dispose of it.

It turned out to be a solid-metal training shell designed to shoot into the air but not explode.

The man, whom police did not identify Tuesday, approached a sheriff’s deputy and Lawrence Police officer about 2:40 p.m. on the south side of the building near South Park.

He showed them the shell, which he was carrying in a Styrofoam cooler, and said he’d found it while cleaning out a rented storage unit.

Sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Doug Woods said it was common for people to turn over old ammunition, or even the occasional hand grenade, to the sheriff’s department. But it’s not usually anything as large or potentially dangerous as Tuesday’s delivery, which Woods described as about 8 to 10 inches long and as big around as a baseball.

“This is pretty extreme,” he said.

ATF agents removed the shell from the area around 4 p.m. after determining it wasn’t a threat to explode.