Lost LEO weapon turns up 30 years later in shooting

[Sportcat]

http://www.thecarolinachannel.com/news/4698958/detail.html

Gun Lost 30 Years Ago Used In May Shooting
Officer Lost Gun In Bathroom During Training

POSTED: 11:36 am EDT July 8, 2005
UPDATED: 11:41 am EDT July 8, 2005

AMHERST, OH -- A now-retired police officer mistakenly left a gun in a restroom almost 30 years ago that was used to kill a man in western North Carolina.

Norm Stover lost his .38-caliber Smith and Wesson Airweight in 1976 when he was attending night law enforcement classes.

Stover, a member of the Amherst, Ohio Police Department at the time, said he grabbed his books in the restroom in a dash to get back to class but left the revolver behind.

Where the gun went from there, no one knows.

The gun turned up May 28 in Chimney Rock, where three men were shot, one fatally, in a dispute over a card game.

The suspect would not say how he got the gun, but police used the serial number to trace it to Amherst.

Jack Meredith Martin is charged with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder.

Stover said he always feared that the weapon might wind up in the hands of a criminal.

 

[1 old 0311]

That is what scares me when I buy from individuals.You don't know what is going on with it's history.

Kevin

 

[rbernie]

That is what scares me when I buy from individuals.You don't know what is going on with it's history.

So if I buy it from a gunshop that bought it from an induhvidual, somehow that history is expunged?

 

[Standing Wolf]

Moral of story: hang onto your guns.

 

[CentralTexas]

This isn't a story

anymore than if the cop had sold the gun (and the weapon had never been stolen) and still used to kill with....
CT

 

[Cowgunner]

The poor guy must fell really bad right now.