Grenade Found as Police Tried To Find Girl's Parents

It was found at Southwest 3rd Street and 9th Avenue

Miami Police said they found a grenade, several assault rifles and an arsenal of ammunition in a Little Havana apartment Wednesday as they tried to locate a 3-year-old girl's parents.

The girl was wandering in the  building at 922 SW 3rd St. at about 6:30 p.m., according to Miami Police spokesman Det. Willie Moreno.

Officers arrived and knocked on doors as they tried to find the parents, and the child and neighbors led them to where she lives with her father.

"The door to this apartment was open, so we looked inside. We knocked on the door, and called out for someone to come out, just to realize there was no one inside," Moreno said of police's efforts.

They didn't find relatives in the apartment, but did find the weapons, Moreno said. The weapons have been rendered safe and are in police custody, he said.

A man who said he's the girl's grandfather showed up to the complex and said in Spanish that he didn't believe that. He said his son had a permit to carry guns, but perhaps not a grenade.

Yashera Thompson and her family watched police investigate from just a few doors away.

"The tenants were saying that there was a bomb in there, and that they were taken out of the building," Thompson said.

Police also searched a nearby building for the missing dad, but didn't find him. The frenetic investigation left some people in the neighborhood panicked.

"Scary, very scary," Gabby Samaniego said.

Police said the girl was taken to police headquarters, and the Department of Children and Families has been notified.

Police are in contact with the family trying to locate her parents, Moreno said.

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