12-year-old boys stumble upon hand grenade while hiking, Massachusetts police say

Two boys stumbled upon a hand grenade while hiking in Massachusetts, prompting a bomb squad investigation, police said.

Jackson Allen and Kevin Castaneda, both 12 years old, were walking along a trail in Wrentham on Jan. 25 when they made their discovery, according to a police statement.

While hiking, they noticed a pile of trash and began poking around the debris, police said.

Eventually they noticed a green hand grenade lying on the ground among the trash. It was “somewhat camouflaged in its surroundings,” police said.

Rather than let their curiosity get the better of them, they decided not to touch the weapon, choosing instead to photograph it and return home.

After alerting adults to their potentially dangerous discovery, they called 911 and the town’s police and fire departments responded to the area. A bomb squad was also sent to the scene.

An investigation revealed the grenade was real, but it had been hollowed and rendered harmless, police said.

“Had that grenade been live, had Kevin and Jackson caved to curiosity, this story would be tragic,” police said, adding the teens acted responsibly.

Reports of people stumbling upon grenades in the U.S. occasionally surface. An Ohio man found one while fishing in 2017, according to WLWT. And a live World War II-era grenade was discovered in Colorado in 2015, according to USA Today.

Hand grenades are illegal to possess, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Wrentham is about 30 miles southwest of Boston.