RICHLAND, Wash. - It's not something you'd ever expect to find on the riverbank of the Columbia - a warhead.

But that's what someone did find, Tuesday, near the Wye Levee in Richland.

They found a huge artillery shell, a shell so big and so dangerous that the bomb squad had to blow it up twice to finish the job.

"No matter how many times you've done this, no matter how times you've been around it, it's always like a force of nature," Richland Police Captain Mike Cobb said.

It was a force of nature with enough explosives to kill anyone within a dozen yards.

That's what it takes to blow up a live warhead found at random in the Columbia River bank.

"Where'd it come from?" said a fisherman who saw the blast.

Police don't know.

Someone called the cops Tuesday morning to report a shell was found underneath a blanket.

But at this point, it's still a mystery.

"Well someone must have left it there," the fisherman said. "It's not left over from the war or nothing?"

It could be.

Cobb said the shell could be a World War II-era bomb, suspecting it dates back anywhere from the 1940s to the 1970s.

It was about four feet long and about five inches in diameter.

But police suspect the artillery shell was only dumped in the last few days.

"(The) paint on the outside of the shell was well preserved," Cobb said. "There's not a lot of rust on the ordnance. It doesn't look like it's decayed significantly as if it had been out on the river for 30 or 40 years. It definitely hasn't been on the Columbia for that length of time."

The Washington State Patrol Bomb Squad wasn't going to wait around to take care of it.

The bomb squad started by using about a pound of C-4.

A small cloud of smoke was followed by a big boom.

Cobb said the blast blew off the shell casing but the warhead was still intact, and now, exposed.

At that point, crews still weren't sure if the bomb was live or a training round.

So they brought in more explosives.

This time, they were stronger, called Detasheet, equal to about five pounds of C-4.

"I fish down here everyday and I've never seen anything like that happen before," the fisherman said. "That's cool!"

The roads surrounding the area were closed for several hours while the bomb squad investigated.

Police gave homes and businesses nearby the option to evacuate if they wanted to.

"It's always a little bit awe-inspiring to know just how much force explosives have," Cobb said.

While Cobb has never seen an artillery shell like this, he said it's actually not as rare as you'd think.

Richland P.D. said they've found several military bombs before like mortars and aircraft bombs.

Obviously, if you have any information, call police at (360) 628-0333.

If someone is caught dumping a warhead, he or she could be slapped with illegal dumping and reckless endangerment.

But at this point, the case is closed.