An NC man knocked over a box of model planes in his basement. A grenade fell out.
When a man in North Carolina accidentally toppled a box full of model planes on Sunday evening, he wasn’t expecting a possibly lethal weapon to tumble out.
But that’s exactly what happened, authorities said.
A “pineapple-shaped” grenade from World War II greeted Jeffrey Huffman after he knocked the box some 8 feet to the ground while working on piping in his basement, according to the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department.
“When the box hit the floor, a grenade popped out of the box breaking the pin,” authorities said in a statement. “The grenade had been in a box with RC airplanes given to him by his grandmother about five years ago.”
Huffman lives in Lincolnton, roughly 35 miles northwest of Charlotte.
Officers were perplexed by the grenade’s lack of markings that would have distinguished it as either “training” or “explosive” and called in the Gaston County Bomb Squad to investigate, according to the statement.
“The bomb squad officer walked into the basement and determined the grenade was not dangerous,” the sheriff’s office said. “He told deputies that at some time it may have been an explosive grenade but the primer and powder had been removed from the grenade.”
The bomb squad has since taken the grenade either for use in training or to be destroyed, according to the statement.
