Toddler Finds Live Grenade and Brings It Inside to Show Parents

A Washington toddler made a shocking discovery when he found an old, live hand grenade on his family’s property.

The 3-year-old boy found the grenade in the front yard of his family’s home in the 600 block of Willard Street in Hartline on Tuesday, Sept. 30, according to a news release from the Grant County Sheriff’s Office.

Authorities said the child “brought the grenade inside to his parents,” who then called 911 around 6:45 p.m. local time.

Sheriff’s office deputies and the Washington State Patrol bomb squad were called in to assist. That’s when bomb techs “determined the grenade was live.”

Bomb techs “then carefully removed the device to a rural area north of Hartline and disposed of it,” authorities said.

It is unclear how long the grenade was in the family’s yard, or how the object got there in the first place, according to the Grant County Sheriff’s Office.

The grenade was the same type that was used during World War II “and had clearly been exposed to the elements for some time,” authorities said.

The Washington State Patrol did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

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Grenades were first used around the 15th century, according to Britannica. They were commonly used during the trench warfare of World War I, at which point they became “a standard part of the combat infantryman’s equipment, which it has continued to be.”

More than 50 million fragmentation grenades for use in World War II were manufactured by the United States alone.