Police investigate military-grade rocket in Bellevue garage

Feb. 2–The Bellevue Police Department received an unusual call Wednesday evening: Could they come check out a military-grade rocket in a garage?

A Bellevue man originally purchased the rocket from an estate sale. After he died, his neighbor called the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, asking if the rocket could be donated.

The museum called Bellevue police, who went to the residence and found the rocket was a Douglas AIR-2 Genie, an unguided air-to-air rocket that is designed to carry a 1.5-kiloton W25 nuclear warhead.

Bomb squad members confirmed the rocket was inert, meaning it contained no rocket fuel. No warhead was attached.

This type of rocket was used by the U.S. Air Force and Canada during the Cold War and was the most powerful interceptor missile ever deployed by the Air Force, according to Boeing. The rockets were produced by Douglas Aircraft Company, which merged with Boeing in 1997.

The first and only live firing of a Genie was July 19, 1957. Production ended in 1962.

Police left the item with the neighbor for future donation. “We think it’s gonna be a long, long time before we get another call like this again,” the department posted on social media platform X.