ATLANTA — A military rocket launcher was found Tuesday near a suburban commuter train station. But the FBI said it appeared to be a model used to train soldiers and would be incapable of bringing down an aircraft or destroying a train.
Fully outfitted versions of the M136 AT4 launcher are used by the Army to destroy light tanks. The one found near the station west of Atlanta will be examined to make sure it is only a training model, said FBI spokesman Steve Lazarus.
"If it is indeed a training device, it's something you can buy at any gun store," Lazarus said.
The 3-foot, shoulder-held launcher — painted Army green and with military markings on it — was not loaded, authorities said.
The FBI and police searched the area.
Transit employees discovered the weapon near a station just outside Atlanta, on an embankment next to the tracks, said Gene Wilson, MARTA police chief. The site is about eight miles from the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Wilson said the launcher had been fired at one time.
"It kind of looks like a mini bazooka," he said. "We're trying to figure out when it was used and how it was used."
Lazarus said there was no cause for alarm and train service was not interrupted by the discovery.