Bomb squad disposes of grenade found by toddler

HARTLINE – The Washington State Patrol bomb squad safely detonated an old – but still live – hand grenade found by a 3-year-old boy playing in the yard of his Hartline home Monday evening.

The boy brought the grenade inside to his mother, who placed it in the garage and called 911 around 6:45 p.m., reported the Grant County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies notified the WSP bomb squad, who responded to the 600 block of Willard Street in Hartline.

Bomb technicians determined the grenade was still potentially explosive and transported it to a rural location near the intersection of Roads 42-NE and R-NE, where it was safely detonated in an open field, according to the sheriff’s report.

The grenade was a type used in World War II and had “clearly been exposed to the elements for some time,” the report stated. It was undetermined how the grenade ended up in the family’s front yard or how long it had been there.