No grenades found at Palm Coast home which was scene of recent murder

A report that there may be a container of hand grenades at a Palm Coast residence – which was the scene of a murder last week – prompted deputies Wednesday to evacuate surrounding homes and call the bomb squad, according to the Flagler County Sheriff's Office.

But once deputies were able to check the container, they found lots of bullets for rifles and pistols but no grenades or any other type of explosives, Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said in an interview about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The container full of bullets was in a house at 20 Blare Drive, which belongs to Charles Kidd Jr. Kidd, 85, was charged with second-degree murder in the Aug. 14 shooting of Mark Ruschmeier, his roommate. Kidd remained at the Flagler County Jail Wednesday.

Staly said the deputies got a call that Kidd had hand grenades in a container. Staly said deputies took a lot of care since they didn't know whether there were hand grenades or some other type of explosives in the container. Staly said they also needed to make sure the container was not booby-trapped.

The sheriff said that during the murder investigation, deputies removed a number of firearms and ammunition from the home.

Flagler County Sheriff's Office Senior Public Affairs Officer Ava Hanner said bomb technicians from the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office were called to identify what was in the container, which she described as a footlocker. She said a family member came across the footlocker and had believed it may contain hand grenades. The sheriff's office got the call at 1:48 p.m.

As a precaution, she said residents from six homes surrounding Kidd's house were evacuated.

Deputies had been out to the house on Dec. 27 for an argument between Kidd and Ruschmeier, who told them then that Kidd was a “doomsday prepper” and showed deputies a wall where Kidd kept boxes of guns and ammunition, according to information the sheriff’s office provided after the murder.

Blare Drive was closed between Oak Trails Boulevard and Black Alder Drive as the bomb squad worked. Deputies were restricting traffic from going on Blare Drive, a portion of which was lined by sheriff's office vehicles as well as the mobile command unit.

Some residents parked their vehicles along Oak Trails Boulevard and walked through some woods to their homes.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: No grenades found at recent murder scene; just lots of bullets