In October, 2015 my son and his two boys returned home in their St. Elmo neighborhood from shopping.
older boy went out to the back yard, but ran into the house excitedly saying “there’s a gun out there”.
Son called the cops and this one came to check it out, filled in a report, and took the loaded 9mm.
Turns out, it was left there by an unstable homeless woman who had previously lived in the area and was known for breaking into other homes since then.
Apparently when son returned to his house, she was interrupted before she could get in their sliding door and dropped her gun & purse before running off.
The next day she knocked on son’s door and asked for her purse and gun that she had “accidentally” dropped in his back yard.
Son read her the riot act, telling her how she had endangered his children while trespassing and was not welcome on his property. Then informed her the police had taken the purse & gun.
A couple of days later he called the officer about the case and was told that the lady had come to the station. The cops gave her purse and the gun back.