The device was detonated in yard of his San Marco, Florida residence

Apr 9, 2013 14:31 GMT  ·  By

A resident of San Marco, Florida has encountered a live grenade while working in his garden on Monday, April 8.

“I was raking the edge of the patio in the back and the thing came tumbling out,” Allen Meeks recalls for News 4 Jax.

Meeks only realized that he came across a grenade upon clearing the leaves laying on top of it and picking it up. He got startled, placed it further away from his house on his front yard and alerted authorities.

He describes being told that the device was still active and his neighbors being told not to approach his home. A bomb squad was called in and proceeded to detonate the grenade.

Specialists buried and set it off where they found it. Nobody was harmed during the detonation, and Meeks's yard hasn't been wiped off.