Guns, ammunition, grenades, dynamite found inside burning Brooklyn apartment

CROWN HEIGHTS, Brooklyn (WABC) -- It seemed like routine fire, in a non-descript little apartment in Brooklyn, but what firefighters found was anything but routine.

They found enough firepower to arm a small platoon.

Rifles, semi-automatic handguns, shotguns and ammunition, even grenades and sticks of dynamite were found inside a second floor apartment in Crown Heights.

It was shocking to both firefighters and neighbors.

"It's just crazy. I can't believe all that in there on this block," said Hakeem, a neighbor.

50-year-old Eric Brown is facing multiple weapons charges for allegedly having all of that inside his Crown Heights apartment.

Neighbors say he's a retired corrections officer who lived with his wife and kids at the corner of Buffalo and Atlantic avenues.

"It's crazy, I've never known him to do anything wrong. It just looks like he keeps a lot of junk. He's a collector, he's a hoarder," said Lawrence Beck, a neighbor.

The fire started in a neighbor's apartment as firefighters tried to get it under control; they say they found the illegal firearms in plain sight.

The suspect's family members refused to talk to Eyewitness News as they gathered their belongs, but neighbors came to his defense.

"Just don't understand how they said his house had all of the stuff in there. Just supposed to go in there and douse the fire and leave his merchandise in there alone. Why they went in there searching around his house is beyond everybody's believe," a neighbor said.

No injuries were reported.

Six people were displaced because of the fire.

Neighbors say the Red Cross is helping them out with a place to stay.