Residents Evacuated After Couple Finds Grenade, Weapons

Residents of a West Englewood neighborhood street were evacuated from their homes late Tuesday after a couple found a grenade amid a cache of weapons and ammunition inside a U-Haul truck they'd rented. 

The police Bomb and Arson Unit responded about 11:30 p.m. to the 6700 block of South May Street and found a parked truck containing several weapons, including rifles and ammunition, police said.

The pair had some of their possessions inside the truck, but didn't realize what was in the container they'd gotten from a storage auction.

When they made the discovery, they notified police, who recovered three shotguns, two rifles, multiple rounds of ammunition from different caliber weapons and the grenade, said News Affairs Officer Robert Perez

The grenade was deemed inert by Bomb and Arson officers, but residents of the block were evacuated from their homes as a precautionary measure.

"It's crazy.  They had the whole block roped off.  They took the tenants out of the building... and put them in buses," said building owner John Worhty.

Residents were allowed to go back in their homes shortly before 4 a.m.

The couple was cleared because they did not know what was in the container, Perez said.