The sonobuoy washed up the evening June 29 at Wipeout Beach in La Jolla, prompting authorities to watch the object overnight during high tide.
A suspicious device that washed up at Wipeout Beach in La Jolla around 6:30 pm June 29 has been determined to be “benign,” according to San Diego fire Captain Jason Shanley, after an all-night watch.
The object prompted a coordinated effort from San Diego police, fire-rescue and lifeguard departments, with the bomb squad responding due to difficulty in distinguishing the device.
A further challenge: the rising tide, which threatened to wash the object away and led to a “long, arduous process” to secure and identify it, Shanley said.
San Diego police officers kept watch overnight, he said, until the morning hours June 30 when the object could be retrieved and examined.
The device turned out to be a sonobuoy, used in underwater research, that had detached from its source, Shanley said.
