A kid playing outside a Hilton Head business found a gun buried in the dirt, police say

A boy playing outside a Hilton Head business Saturday afternoon found a rusted 9mm pistol buried in the dirt, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office report.

The boy found the gun about 4 p.m. in the Northridge Plaza off William Hilton Parkway, the incident report said. The boy told his mom, who called police.

Deputies found the handgun buried in about two to three inches of dirt, the report said. A deputy tried to unload the gun, but couldn’t because it was “rusted, warped, (and) mostly destroyed,” the report said.

The gun was taken to the Sheriff’s Office and put into a secured safe, the report said.