Single Six Saturday Nite Special

So my house shares a yard with the another house. They are both owned by the same woman (my landlord), and she is currently renovating the front residence (I live in the back house, a one-time Mother-in-law residence that was renovated about 5 years ago). She recently moved back to town, and so is renovating the front house to move into. She's nice, so sharing a yard with her will be fine.

But today, one of the painters walked around the side of the house, and had a gun in his hand. I immediately placed my hand on my gun (you do have a gun on your person at all times, don't you?), and grabbed the doorknob, to confront the painter in my yard walking around with an unholstered gun in his hand. My adrenaline had dumped, and my fight or flight response apparently went to fight.

Before I could open the door, my cop brain had processed information that I was unaware I had taken in.

First, this guy was a broke-down old painter. He likely had a thyroid problem, evidenced by the large lump on his throat. He didn't fit the stereotype of someone up to no good.

Second, he was walking calmly. He wasn't glancing around furtively. He simply walked into the house that was being renovated.

Lastly, he was carrying the gun loosely by his side, and he was holding it way down on the grip. His fingers were nowhere near the trigger.

I let go of the doorknob, and took a breath. I stood there for perhaps 60 seconds, letting my adrenaline work it's way through my system.

I told my wife I would be right back, and walked over to the house being worked on. The man was in the kitchen, and was speaking to a coworker. "...found it in the back"... He stopped speaking when I walked in.

"Hey guys. I'm a cop. I live in the house there (pointing out the window). I saw someone walking through the yard with a gun, and figured I should check it out."

"Yeah, I found this by the shed. Looks like it had been there a long time." (He held the gun out to me with 2 fingers) "you can have it, man."

He didn't appear to want to be involved with finding a gun and dealing with the cops. I figured he was one of those guys that has a general distrust of law enforcement, but probably due more to how he was raised than anything. He didn't strike me as the type to be an actual criminal.

I told him thanks, and told him I was just gonna call local P.D. I don't live in a bad area, but the transitional neighborhood is about a block away, and the 'hood' is about 3 blocks away. There is an alley behind my house that is choked with growth, and in speaking with neighbors, it was cleared out about a year before I moved in, but quickly grew back. It was apparently clear for about 6 months, and this was about 3 years ago.

Well, all that growth built up on the back of the property, and filled in a 3 foot gap between the shed at the rear of the property and the alleyway. The landlord had that area behind the shed cleared last week.

My best guess is that about 3 years ago, a dindoo-nuffin-type used the alley when it was clear as a cut-through, and found a good place to dispose of a stolen gun (or one that had been used in a crime, or both) behind the shed. And there it sat for 3 years until the underbrush was cleaned, and a painter walked around behind the shed.

I called the PD's non-emergency line, and had them send a unit to pick it up. We discussed it for a few minutes, and he agreed with the assessment of it being either stolen or used in a crime. Especially since the barrel had been shortened to about 3 inches. Poorly. It was obviously cut with a hacksaw, and at an angle. There was no crown, and it wasn't a square cut. There was no front sight to speak of. It appeared to have been done for ease of concealment.

There were live rounds in some of the chambers, too, but not all. Like I said, likely a crime gun.

At any rate, the local cop said he'd bring it to their firearms lab, and see if they could trace it to anything, and find a legible serial number to run. He also said he would cross reference police reports in the area concerning gun and drug crimes, and foot chases through the surrounding neighborhoods from about 2 and a half to 3 years ago, to see if he gets lucky. While unlikely, sometimes due diligence can solve a cold case.

Anyway, it was certainly an interesting morning.