A young boy discovered a live World War II-era hand grenade Monday on his family’s property in central Washington, authorities said. The 3-year-old wasn’t harmed.
He found the grenade in the front yard of his family’s home in Hartline, a small town about midway between Seattle and Spokane, according to the Grant County Sheriff’s Office. The boy brought it inside the house and gave it to his parents, who called the sheriff’s office at around 6:45 p.m.
Washington State Patrol deployed a bomb squad to support deputies who responded to the house. When they arrived, bomb technicians determined that the grenade was live. They removed and disposed of it in a rural area north of the town, according to the sheriff’s office.
“The grenade was of a type used during the Second World War and had clearly been exposed to the elements for some time,” the office said in a social media post. “It’s not known how the grenade ended up in the family’s front yard, nor how long it had been there.
