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Subscribe to RSSWhile unpacking a case of frozen meat, a New Mexico grocery store employee found a loaded gun packed with seven rounds of ammo. KOB's Erica Zucco reports.
A supermarket employee in Roswell, N.M., found an unexpected item in a case of frozen meat this week: a loaded handgun.
The Albertsons worker was unwrapping the meat, which had been shipped from a packing plant in Colorado, when he discovered the firearm, along with seven rounds of ammunition, on Wednesday.
"The big cases of meat come in a box," Sabrina Morales, Roswell Police Department public relations liaison, said. "When he opened it, he saw the firearm. It wasn't packaged inside with the meat, but it was in the same box."
The man brought the Rock Island Armory .38 super semi auto handgun, along with the ammo, into the Roswell Police Department at about 2 p.m. that afternoon, she said.
Where the gun came from is a mystery to police. It was entered into the National Crime Information Center database, but no reports of its being stolen came up.
The supermarket employee wiped it clean before turning it in, making it difficult for police to find any identifying fingerprints.
Adding to officers' challenge: The meat, which was sent to Albertsons from Swift Packing Plant in Greeley, Colo., was packaged more than a year ago.
"The other part that's disturbing is the date on the package was 6.8.2011. I don't know how long meat stays well-frozen, but that was the date of the package he was opening," Morales said.
A call to Swift Packing Plant's corporate office from NBC News was not returned Friday. Roswell police, who did not identify the Albertsons employee, said they have collected all the information they can and have turned the investigation over to Greeley police.
In the meantime, Roswell police are hoping their NCIC database query through the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms may provide some clues, but Roswell Sgt. Jim Preston told New Mexico's KOB.com that the search could take months.
"If it was stolen, we would have thought that by now it would have been entered into the actual database, NCIC, as a stolen firearm," he said. "But we don't have any of that information, and it is something we're looking into."
The gun has made for one of the more memorable cases for the Roswell department.
"You hear of people finding frogs in their salad or weird stuff like that, but never heard of this one," Morales said.
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Leave a Comment:
More concerned about the meat being out of date - if it is in fact out of date. If it was stored at a sub-zero temerature it probably is still edible as I know people who store game meat for up to 4 years in sub-zero lockers.
The gun, probably dropped during packing by someone, or the ICE raid ditch is a credible theory.
Selling defrosted meat that's well over a year old? Sounds about right for Albertsons, they suck.
Keep looking you might find Jimmy Hoffa in a Whataburger.
he WAS a whataburger.
i'd be more worried about why albertsons is selling year old meat.
it may have been planted for a crime or someone had to ditch it quick. in prison, convicts will use stuff like laundry baskets to move contraband around.
every handgun I find I always wipe clean before turning it in.. lol .. why is this news ..
What database? Part of the Brady bill that enacted these background checks required the electronic data to be deleted within 24 hours. The paper records are available, but that is a mountainous task. so what database querry are we talking about folks?!!!
Does the FBI support a national ballistics data base?
Does the FDA support a 'rotted meat' data base?
Either of these could come in handy about now.
There is a national ballistics data base of weapons used in crimes, suspected of crimes, LEO weapons, state and federal agencies and military issue.
Your "rotted meat" data base would serve no purpose here because the meat was not rotten at least I did not see that noted in the article. But there is a data base of contaminates that have been found in food. It includes biological, chemical and physical contaminates.
that does it. all frozen meat needs to be registered... Someone could beat a person to death with a pound of year old ground meat Where the hell is congress and the gun control advocates when we need them ??
Next they will be banning hamburger damn what about sausages ?? hot dogs ???
always heard about the dangers of eating meat, but this is a killer.
yeah i think for some reason that gun was stached and then whoever couldn't get back to it.
A year went by before they shipped the beef, wtf is up with that, I thought Fresh was better?
For those of you that keep saying that the meat is bad because it might have been frozen for 17 months should do a little research. With the advances that have been made in food preparation and storage if the meat is kept at -30C (-22F). That temp is a norm in the Frozen Meat Industry and most commercial frozen food is kept below -25F.
If you are going by information on storing it in your house you will not get this length of time because your household freezer can't get down to that temp. You would have to have a different Freon and other components in your freezer to get that temp.
The meat is probably fine. That is based on it being properly processed and the product is maintained at the proper temperature. Out of caution I would trash the meat not because of the time it was frozen but because it obviously was not handled properly with the fact a gun was introduced to the package.
It would be interesting to know if the weight of the package was correct with the gun in it. If it was chances are that the gun was put in at the plant before final packaging. If not it could have been put in anywhere it was from CO to NM.
Still would NEVER eat year old frozen meat from any corporate raider who skirt the most basic regulations and willingly poison the populace. Shop from your local people and order your meat fresh from the butcher who will get for you. Costs more but worth it and I am the wife of a blue collar worker who works in healthcare admin..and who also happens to be a hardcore political activist of 15+ years and an environmentalist for 30+. So this stuff in our food thing? Way so not cool.......
its simple, guns are so easy to get the cows in the field are pooping them out.
i'd like to know wth was the employee thinking wiping the firearm down, but yeah the old meat i don't even keep meat for 6 mths in my freezer c'mon albertsons u trying to do yurself in or what
Lemme break the news to the communists and liberals I have a loaded weapon In my NRA approved vest everytime I go out the door. IT'S MY RIGHT !
It's your right to be paranoid too as long as you don't take it out on anyone.
I don't belong to the mega billion dollar farce called the NRA who spreads paranoia and BS and carry my pistal in my non NRA me approved "libbie owned" handbag, jacket pocket or whatever I want that conceals it and I can get at it while somebody like you will think "she would never have a gun as only us macho CONS have guns" and while you are laughing at somebody like me, I'll draw my Beretta and blow you're f----g head off and think nothing of it if you DARE threaten me because that is how much your kind taught this once complete pacifist what it means to HATE and I never knew that was possible after 01/2011 when full scale war was declared on people's civil liberties granted to the under The Constitution and while the shriek never has stopped about so-called "communism or socialism or our President even being a nazi, the fact IS the far rw faction known as the tea party is in fact FASCISM and the USA is 85% OWNED by the "corporate totaltitarian state and or government is controlled by it too". Mega millionaires, billionaires, their lobbyists, the fossil fuel industry, Wall St and CEOS with the money declared war on the common worker, labour is evil and being allowed to organized is being outlawed and branded thuggery-(see 1933 nazi Germany), education is being defunded, only PUIBLIC of course as has the USPS since 2006 while the Postal has been blamed for this and it is completely untrue...we the middle class have been bilked out of almost everything by the wealthy and now they're after or SS, MC, MA and even VA benefits are under assault by the corporate state but "pity the billionaire and keep funding war for profit and for profit health"care"....It is the best in the world you know.....Keep arresting people for petty drug possesion and on goes the war on drugs though no one wins except the prison industry and where is that getting the biggest boom in profits? The private prison industry where incarcerating people in the "for profit prisons makes BIG money and people can work for pennies on the dollar instead of employing millions of unemployed Americans....
Fascism.....but all the propaganda keeps the stupid and naive buying the "big lie about alll this non-existant socialism or communism". Whatever the propaganda liars feel like labeling what in fact does not exist in the USA. We the people won an election in spite of all the crap, lies, cheating and voter suppression laws put in place by the fascist RW to stop democracy but it was won anyway and who is screaming about "cheating"? Who wants to secede and demand "justice"? Those who are guilty of the crime but play the game of projection oh so well of course but this is what masters of propaganda and manipulation do. I've seen it for years but sadly, many are finally coming around late to the game after so much damage has already been done but hopefully it is NOT TOO LATE to turn this around and what is LEFT of democracy can prevail.
You are a sorry lot and I never thought I would learn to hate. I had to learn to survive and get people to face reality with who they are dealing with and this goes for my so-called party members/leaders who after Scott Walker waltzed back in the Governor's chair after we fought for, started with the "we have to come together and work with..... " and I lost it with all of them. " You can't come together with people who want to destroy us and YOU!!! Enough of extending the olive branch with these a-holes already and fight BACK!!! Fight back with everything you've got or we are SOL and so is this state and all she was founded on. Quit the DREAMING because do you think for a minute that liar and his stormtroopers have ANY intention of working with YOU after what they did right after they got in office last year and started the war on labour and the entire working class of this state for the Koch empire, Wall St and their corporate multi-millionaire friends!!!?? Wake UP!!!"
I lost some friends in the dem party that day but sure KEPT a lot too for being a true progressive fighter for what WI was founded on and what the Henry Wallace, FDR, JFK Democrats were. When saying and being "liberal was not a DIRTY WORD". DON'T YOU tread on ME or the rest of us 98% anymore because we are fighting back and the greedy who have been controlling the cards for so long now can't stand it and so the laws have been coming to knock us down, they send the police to beat us up, arrest us, they send out the corporate media to lie about how greedy, lazy and selfish WE are for wanting fair wages and to stop our resources and food from being poisoned, for the wars to end, for our children to have decent schools to go to and for something like college to be affordable for all of us and not cost the price of a new home or for healthcare not to bankrupt the average family if you wind up in the hospital for surgery i/p w/o inurance or if you lose your job, you lose your health insurance and hope you don't wind up in the hsp....welcome to the USA.....People who make 7.25/hr and 8.25/hr are rebelling and the rw is screaming at them for "being whining brats and get back to work or the thug union must have soemthing to do with it/these ungrateful children should be happy to have a job and shut up.. what MORE do they want for punching a cash register and what exactly should MINIMUM WAGE BE? $100/hr is what these liberal morons think who never ran a business so no wonder this country is BROKE!!!" Oh yeah, I hear all the usual excuses but when people did make enough on one income and taxes were much higher, people had pensions to retire on, we all did well and did the country.....Sto being so selfish and we won't be finding guns in year old frozen meat on grocery shelves......
First of all why are they selling meat that has been frozen for a yr-and-a-half? Second of all, my opinion is that the gun was the employee's and he/she was trying to get rid of it because otherwise I believe he would have turned in the whole box to the mgr. who then would have turned it in to the police. Otherwise, why would he wipe it clean?
Should have just kept the gun and kept silent.. It's a nice piece...
Hope a disgruntled employee thought they were being stupid, and changed their mind and stuffed the gun.
Even though I am vegetarian, and won't eat that anyway, I still would rather not think that they put it in with a human target's body.
I don't know why, but I am reminded of the movie, "Fried Green Tomatoes"
The real issue here isn't the gun- who cares?? 1 1/2 year old meat? Another reason to support your local farmers and buy your meat directly from them- boycott supermarket meat!
I would be investigating the person that found it - why did that person wipe it down, did they also run it through the dish washer?
It's Roswell...home of aliens. 'Nuf said.
The real disturbing fact about this story is the fact that super market was about to or all ready has sold it's customers really old meat. Seriously the Feds need to focus on the age of the packaging. Wow wonder what else they are dumping on the public?
The clerk wiped down the weapon? The box has a date from 2011? Something is fishy here. My guess is that someone wanting to ditch a handgun sneaked it into the Albertson's, along with an old meat packing box, and ditched it in the freezer. I doubt that Swift or Albertsons stored meat for 18 months. Maybe the clerk was just trying to dry off the moisture. Or maybe the clerk wanted to make sure there were none of his prints on the gun. Suggestion: dust the clip and the bullets for prints.
To all of you arguing the mmddyy versus ddmmyy methods, either way the date would be over a year ago. Most frozen meat is supposed to be used up within six months when stored in a non-commercial freezer. Why would you wipe a gun clean if you found it like that in the first place?