Found a sawed off shothgun, and some slugs in an abondoned house today.

[fastfredracing]

Every once in a while we get curious and will go into abandoned houses that are in the area of our rentals. There is one 3 houses down from where we are working right now, and we noticed the back door kicked in, so we figured we would have a look see. I have been in some scary blown out places before, this one was no different. Just totally trashed, at least 12 " of debris and , old clothes, on the floor, broken furniture scattered everywhere, busted windows, you get the picture.
I was making my way through the first floor, and watching my every step pretty carefully, and right next to a chair, by a window, I could see the barrell sticking out of a black plastic garbage bag. Barrell sawed off right down to a nub and the stock was chopped off and wrapped in friction tape. There were a few 12 guage slugs laying there as well. This sort of changed the mood of our little adventure. I went upstairs to look around, and a cat scared the bejesus out of me, and I left the place without further exporation. There was bad ju ju in there.
I have been working in this general neighborhood for almost 5 years now, and lets just say, that I have noticed some suspicious activity in the area, and have seen quite a bit of movement in the area of todays abonded house at certian times .
I am sort of in a tough spot on this one. I think I know who it belongs to , and they have been cool with us so far. If we make a report, I am a little leary they may know who stirred up the dust, and I am not so sure these people are the kind you want mad at you , on the other hand, we sort of consider this our stomping grounds and don't like this sort of funny buisness so close.
This is such a cool little neighborhood, and we plan on buying several more in the same general area.
What do ya think?

[fred cook]

at all times! You should be able to make an anonymous call to the police and report the presence of the sawedoff shotgun. Very illegal thing to have! Maybe the cops would get lucky and pick up the gun and owner at the same time or maybe get some fingerprints off of the gun or shells. You are right about one thing, places like that are definitely bad Ju Ju!

[Joe Bob]

You really don't want that sawed off laying around.....call the heat, quick.

[VaSteve]

Did the cat go "rwaor!!" like they do in the movies?

[Normy]

Let me get this str8: You entered, without permission, a building via a broken door-

In most jurisdictions dude, this is considered "breaking and entering". It is a misdemeanor, but a serious one. I don't recommend entering abandoned buildings like this- You might wind up on an episode of "COPS", sitting on the curb without your shirt hands behind your back with a pair of cuffs!

As to the sawed-off: Simple possession of that weapon is enough to put you in jail. Pick it up and carry it out, and if the cops are outside the building...guess what? You are going to JAIL!

I work on the side on my days off from the airline as a handyman/investor in a small company that buys and fixes/flips/ rents real estate. We have 39 apartments, 4 houses, and 3 condos, and I am VERY VERY careful about walking into units for sale! If you do NOT have a realtors license, you are really setting your self up for a nasty fall if you just walk into an "abandoned" property!

N

[Superman]

If this were my neighborhood, I'd want that thing gone.

[id10t]

The right thing to do to protect yourself is to hire a lawyer and have him/her contact the BATFE ... client confidentiality will protect you, the BATFE will deal with the illegal spoon.

[masraum]

At the very least, I'd make an anonymous call.

If the building is "abandoned", then the owner has deniability and shouldn't be the target if the cops find something in the building. You should have deniability to the owner too.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by id10t

The right thing to do to protect yourself is to hire a lawyer and have him/her contact the BATFE ... client confidentiality will protect you, the BATFE will deal with the illegal spoon.

Wow, ok, sounds like it would work, but sounds like a bunch of trouble compared to an anonymous call to the cops.

[Brando]

Originally Posted by masraum

Wow, ok, sounds like it would work, but sounds like a bunch of trouble compared to an anonymous call to the cops.

Make the call... From a pay phone. Away from your place.

What if some kid goes in there? Won't someone think of the children?

[fastfredracing]

Seriously Norm, this place has been vacant for more than 3 years, and has been really vandallized. All of the nieghbors on the street know us, and like us,and appreciate that we are cleaning up the area. We keep our places nice, and usually clean a bunch of trash up in and on the surrounding properties. Three houses up was our dump truck/ work trucks , and all of our equipment sitting at the house that we are finishing up. The place looks great, and any cop. or neighbor with two ounces of brains would be able to tell in an instant that we are not vandals, copper thieves, or sawed off shotgun carrying crack dealers.
The cat did go reowrrr, just like in the movies and scared the hell out of me, all I could picture was the owner of that gat waiting for us on the second story.
After talking it over with my lady tonight, and hearing your responses, I feel like making an anonymous call to the police is the right thing to do. We will be putting in an offer on another house on the same street, and have 4 other places in near proximity so we sort of like to think we are looking our for the good of the area. .
We have complained about some of these places before, and they actually tore them down, and cleaned up the lots. A huge improvement to the neighborhood.
I am getting up at 5 am tomorrow morning, and heading down there again. If I am feeling brave enough, I will snap a couple of photos of the gat, and the carnage in the house for you guys.
My partner took all of the shells , he was worried about a young one finding it we did not mess with the gun too much, picked it up with a rag , to make sure it was not loaded, it was cracked open, but had one in the chamber.

[tevake]

Now that you have been there a couple times and could be tied to the place. I think would call the cops and let them come and round up the piece and deal with it.
Considering the situation there I would NOT be comfortable knowing that was still there.

Good on you for helping to turn the area around with your efforts in the neighborhood, I think that getting this dealt with goes hand in hand with your other efforts.

Cheers Richard

[targa911S]

Cut it up in little pieces and put it in the trash a little at a time. Forget about it.

[ben parrish]

Originally Posted by targa911S

Cut it up in little pieces and put it in the trash a little at a time. Forget about it.

YUP...sounds right...a sawsall and 5 minutes takes car of it and no possible "payback" from the owner. If the cops show up, he will most likely know it's you. If it disappears, could be anyone.

[targa911S]

If it's a SXS and marked "Parker" Purdey, Boss, AH Fox or Holland & Holland" send it to me. LOL.

[304065]

Originally Posted by targa911S

If it's a SXS and marked "Parker" Purdey, Boss, AH Fox or Holland & Holland" send it to me. LOL.

Nah, it's probably just a piece of junk marked "Arrieta"

[Capt. Crunch]

+1

Originally Posted by targa911s

cut it up in little pieces and put it in the trash a little at a time. Forget about it.

[911pcars]

Originally Posted by targa911S

Cut it up in little pieces and put it in the trash a little at a time. Forget about it.

Could be evidence in a crime, yes? Why destroy evidence (ownership, fingerprints, etc.)?

Make an anonymous call. What's the risk?

Too much, "Not my problem" nowadays.

Sherwood

[A930Rocket]

In order to cut it up, you gotta take it out of there and get it to the home/shop.

It'll be an really interesting story if you get seen or pulled over.

Call it in.

[fastfredracing]

http://youtu.be/KU0AA9_pTFo

Listen to my voice , I was definateley uncomfortable in this enviroment. Scary place for sure . We stayed kind of late tonight, and were keeping a more watchful eye on the neighborhood activities . No one was seen going in our out of that house.