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Two adult brothers found a loaded handgun in a field off Highway 99 while they were searching for Pokemon.

(Clark County Sheriff's Office )

Two brothers set out to find Pokemon in a Hazel Dell field, but instead stumbled upon a loaded handgun, the Clark County Sheriff's Office said.



Emmanuel Schmaltz, 24, and his brother Nathan Schmaltz, 30, got home early in the morning from work and decided to play Pokemon Go, an augmented reality game that populates the real world with anime creatures for players to catch.

Nathan had been playing the game since it came out last week, but it was Emmanuel's first day. The pair wandered around outside their apartment complex hunting for the imaginary monsters.



They caught sight of one neither had -- a purple poison flower Pokemon called Gloom -- as it went into a field behind their apartment complex.



The field, which is off of 15th Avenue near Highway 99, is mostly fenced off. But the brothers were determined. They followed the Pokemon through a hole in the fence.



They split up to try to capture it. Realizing he had lost the Pokemon, Emmanuel started to walk back and caught sight of something in the weeds.



It was a loaded Smith & Wesson Magnum.

Brothers Emmanuel and Nathan Schmaltz were looking for Pokemon in the game Pokemon Go when they found a loaded handgun in a field behind their apartment.

"This does not belong here," Emmanuel recalled thinking. "This is a well-traveled path. A lot of kids go here."



The brothers halted their Pokemon search and called police.



Because of rust and visible weathering, deputies believe the gun had been in the field for some time.



It's fortunate that adults, instead of children, found the gun, police said.





"It might've led to a tragic incident, if it weren't for the Pokemon searchers" Deputy Brian Wade said in a news release.

This is not the only time aspiring PokeMasters have assisted police. On Sunday, a Pokemon Go player helped Eugene police identify a suspected vandal. And a teenager in Wyoming discovered a dead body in the river while on a Poke quest last week.

As for the Pokemon? Nathan caught it. Emmanuel, however, got a memorable story about the first day he played Pokemon Go.



"I had a very exciting first day," he said.

-- Samantha Matsumoto

smatsumoto@oregonian.com

503-294-4001