Some alert pre-teens who found a loaded gun near a South Portland playground are being credited for averting a dangerous situation.
South Portland patrol sergeant Todd Barlow says three young girls were playing in a local playground Sunday morning when they discovered what they at first thought was a toy.
The grandmother of one of the girl called police, who retrieved the weapon. Later that day, police received a report of a gun that had been stolen from a car in the same area, and they identified it as the same weapon.