A four-year-old girl ended up finding a gun in the bathroom at a Macy’s department store in Michigan.
Cody Swy, 26, had taken his daughter Sarae, and three-year-old son Landon to the store in Lansing to pick up some clothes when his eldest daughter said she had to go to the restroom.
The youngster found a loaded, semi-automatic handgun in a bathroom stall in the men’s room, hanging off a handrail.
Cody Swy, 26, took his two children including Sarae, 4, pictured here, into the men’s room to use the toilet whereupon she found a gun and holster hanging up
Sarae, 4, picked up the gun and asked her father what it was before handing it over to him
‘What’s this, dad?’ Cody said his daughter asked as she pointed the gun directly at his chest.
‘I didn’t freak out because I knew if I freaked out, she could have jolted and possibly have fired,’ he told the Detroit Free Press.
‘I know how to talk someone down with a weapon, I’ve been there, but it’s never been my own flesh and blood,’ said Cody who who trained with the national guard and previously worked as a military police officer.
‘Baby put it down. Put it down,’ he told Sarae as he slowly backed out of the stall.
Cody told her to aim the end of the gun at the floor, at which point he was able to rush back in and grab the weapon.
Cody trained with the national guard and previously worked as a military police officer and was able to convince the youngster to hand over the weapon
Shockingly, he found there was a bullet in the chamber and a full magazine behind it.
Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office is now in possession of the gun and the case is being investigated.
Police are now trying to track down the gun’s owner, however upon entering the gun’s serial number into a statewide and national database, no records were found.
Luckily, Sarae was unharmed despite the gun having a bullet in the chamber and a full magazine behind it
According to data collected by the Associated Press, between January 1, 2014, and June 30, 2016, 11 Michigan children under the age of 12 either killed themselves or were mistakenly shot and killed by another child.
The state was one of four nationally — in a group with Ohio, Texas and Georgia — that had more than 10 accidental gun deaths involving kids under the age of 12.
Macy’s are going to review video footage of who was using the bathroom earlier in the day and it should also be possible to trace exactly where the gun was sold.
‘This is the first time my kids have ever been around a gun,’ Cody said to Freep.com.
‘This stuff just happened in Las Vegas with the weapons and that sort. Right now, nobody knows what happened with the gun Sarae found. Was it a guy who took it off and put it on the handrail and just forgot? Or it could have been someone planning on going into the mall and shooting it up and then got cold feet and left it there.
‘After all that is happening in the world, I have no idea, especially in America right now, with the president, the left and the right, all this hate, the NFL, I have no idea what’s going on. America is at it’s most crazy point ever.’