Nevada family secretly living in children’s museum had arsenal of weapons

A family was secretly living and storing an assortment of weapons inside a Nevada children’s museum where the mother and father worked, according to authorities.

The arsenal of weapons was found once the odd living arrangement came to light inside the Children’s Museum of Northern Nevada on June 30, with authorities finding an AK-47, three handguns and an AR-style pistol inside, KRNV-TV in Reno reported, citing the local sheriff’s office.

It’s unclear how long the family lived there, but it came to an end after the couple’s two-year-old child walked outside the museum unsupervised, the Carson City Sheriff’s Office said. While this isn’t the first time police spoke with 41-year-old Wilbert Calhoun about an unsupervised kid, this time the tot’s older sister told deputies she lived in the museum, authorities said.

Authorities and a museum board member found sleeping bags, mattresses, clothes and food in an area off limits to visitors, the sheriff’s office said.

On top of the guns and day-to-day items, ammunition, knives, suppressors and a taser, as well as drug paraphernalia, were also found, according to a police report, obtained by KRNV.

A report from the sheriff’s office said the storage room where the drugs and weapons were found “could easily be accessed by a wandering child,” according to KRNV.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” said Sheriff Ken Furlong, according to television station KOLO.

Calhoun, who was a museum janitor, was charged with child neglect and endangerment and possession of a suppressor and short barrel rifle. The wife, the museum manager, has not faced charges, though she and her husband were both fired from the museum.

The sheriff’s office did not know how many family members lived in the museum, but workers at a nearby business believe five kids and the two adults stayed there, KRNV reported.

The museum’s board stated on its website it was “shocked and saddened” by the events and vowed to reopen in a way “that not only assures the safety of all of our visitors, but that we as a community can be proud of as well.”

With Post wires