Authorities in California say they removed more than 1,200 handguns, shotguns and rifles and over two tons of ammunition from the home of a California man found decomposing in a car earlier this week, the L.A. Times reports.

“The boxes of ammunition were out behind the garage and they were just lots of them, piled at least 8-feet tall,” a neighbor told KNBC, “and the pile just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger.”

Police say they were first called to the man’s home on Friday, when they found his body in an SUV parked down the street. From KTLA:

The elite Robbery-Homicide Division took over the case, getting a search warrant for the victim’s home.

Inside, they found more than 1,200 firearms — including handguns, rifles and shotguns — as well as more than 2 tons of ammunition. An LAPD bomb squad was sent to the home to determine that the search was safe to proceed.

Evacuation for surrounding homes were ordered for nearly 12 hours Saturday, when the search was conducted.

According to the Times, officials believe the man died of natural causes but are investigating whether or not the firearms were owned legally.

“It’s not a crime to have a large number of weapons so long as they were legal to own and legally obtained,” LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith told the paper. “We want to make sure that’s the case.”

[Image KNBC]