More details have come out about the loaded gun found last Friday night at a Target in Myrtle Beach. And they're not pretty.
The police report states a loss prevention worker stumbled upon the gun Friday night.
The gun was in plain view on top of a superhero Playskool toy box when the worker found it; he thought it was a toy. He realized it was real after seeing it was loaded with live ammo.
The fact that it was found in an aisle geared toward children makes some shoppers feel this was no accident.
"I don't think someone would accidentally drop off a gun. I think he purposely left it there for a child to pick up and think, 'Oh it's a toy gun,' and accidentally point it at somebody and it goes off," says Kennedy McClain.
Cliff Notes version--that LP may have averted a real disaster.
Myrtle Beach police have released a picture of a man seen in surveillance video walking up and down every aisle in the toy department--including the aisle where the gun was found. According to WBTW in Myrtle Beach, the LP who found the gun reported that the man looked a bit squirrelly.
Police also want to talk to the last known owner of the gun, Chavonne Moore. WBTW reports that the gun wasn't reported stolen, so Moore may have a lot of explaining to do. Whether Moore and/or the guy in the video were involved or not, police are offering a $1,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of the person responsible.
Target has already faced a well-deserved reaming for not having the sense to ban open carry in their stores. Any defensible reason Target had not to do something about this probably evaporated with the discovery of that gun. Everytown for Gun Safety has started a hashtag campaign, "#OffTarget," to turn up the heat on Target. Everytown has also started a petition urging Target to issue what it calls "gun sense" policies to ban open carry of weapons on their premises. Sign here.
7:42 PM PT: Oh, good God. Several wingnuts are actually claiming this was a "false flag"--i.e., the gun was planted by gun-control advocates. A sample from Twitter:
(hat tips to jan4insight, mrsgoo and KateCrashes)