We were walking home from the Uptown last night around closing time when two dudes came sprinting at us northbound on Shotwell. The lead guy’s pinstriped Yankee hat flew off as they passed us. At the end of the block, they turned left, but not before dropping something. It sounded bigger than a cellphone. We turned back and took a look, and it turned out to be a handgun. I immediately took a picture and then called 9-1-1.
I said, “I just witnessed what I think was an undercover police officer chasing a suspect. They dropped something. It’s a handgun. So I’m standing here on the corner of 19th and Shotwell with a handgun.” The operator shrieked, “YOU PICKED UP THE GUN!?” “No, no, no, I’m just standing next to it.” Right then a squad car arrived and officers started questioning us.
The lead officer took one look at the weapon and said, “Damn, that’s a nice gun.” We couldn’t describe either of the sprinters, so at that point we weren’t much help. After a few minutes, an undercover officer arrived, out of breath. He walked right past the gun and us. “See any drugs?” Nobody had seen any drugs. He walked up and down the sidewalk, looking in planter boxes and elsewhere. Another officer unballed a balled up pair of socks. No drugs anywhere.
He comes back to the gun, asks us if we saw the suspect drop it. We had not. So again we weren’t much help. I asked if he caught the suspect. “Yup,” he said, and smiled. He photographed the scene with a small point-and-shoot camera. The lead uniformed officer again looked at the gun: “I might have to get one of these for myself.”
[Additional photography by David Kelso]
fuckin hipsters wouldnt pick up a free gun huh? but helping cops seems weird. I’m confused.
I know right.. there turning our mission district upside down..
yes.. these hipsters are turning our mission district upside down.. geez… why can’t they just leave stuff alone and keep walking????
shit i’d like to get my hands on the data base of police photos….seems like that would be very interesting: drugs, guns, crime scenes, perps, graffiti !!!
I’m guessing if these guys didn’t have a blog to write stories for they would have taken that pretty sweet gun.
I think it’s retarded to shoot anyone until shit hits the fan and we take this horribly corporatist government back. Hence, I would have taken the gun and stored it in the People’s Revolution Arsenal. Fuck the cops.
More epic comedy material.
Pinstrip Yankees hat?!!???
kudos for doing the right thing dawg. AND having the sense to not pick it up.
i walked passed there last night coming from thee parkside, saw the usual commotion of the area, but no chases or guns. what luck you have in your timing.
They couldn’t spring for a decent holster?
You seriously would pickup a handgun that could have been used in a crime like, I don’t know, murder? Dumber than you look.
Assuming you did it probably would have gone down more like this: “OMG guys, what do I do with this gun??” “Just throw it in the bushes!!”
Its so funny to read the picking apart of this fairly typical big city moment, like its Brian Williams covering the tornado’s or something.
Reading this blog is sometimes so micro that it just makes me want to laugh.
Next up: “My poop was purple — the full story!”
purple, you say?
having a choice between hipsters and handguns, i take the hipster hands down.
Is that Penelope Popsicle?
Cool under pressure. If you live smack dab in the middle of gang territory, then yeah, you support the police.
And nice KDVS t-shirt!!!
Legalize drugs, criminalize guns, plz.