A woman found a violin case filled with guns in the woods along the C&O Canal near Fletcher's Cove in northwest Washington, D.C., Wednesday afternoon.
"The woman that found it happened to be hiking in the area and found this pile of debris along canal road," U.S. Park Police Sgt. Anna Rose said.
In the debris, the woman found the violin case, took it to the Boathouse at Fletcher's Cove and called police.
Police searched the woods near the canal with K-9 units and discovered more weapons -- handguns and long guns -- and ammunition in bags and buckets along the tow path near Arizona Avenue.
Police closed Canal Road between Arizona Avenue and Reservoir Road until about 3:30 p.m.
"Out of an abundance of caution we cleared the area to be sure no bombs or anything threatening anybody, and we found other multiple guns and ammo," Rose said.
Police will try to trace the guns and determine if they have been used in any crimes.
#Breaking Canal Rd closed between Az and Reservoir Rd. Police investigate caches of guns found near canal @nbcwashington pic.twitter.com/zYc0g2I5N2
— Sean Casey (@CaseyNBC) January 4, 2017
"There's no indication as to why these guns were here, when they came to be here or circumstances," Rose said. "That's all under investigation."
An important lesson can be learned from this, police said.
"This woman saw something, and she chose to come forward and say something, giving us the opportunity to make this area safe for everybody, and as we approach the inauguration that's important," Rose said.
