Assault Rifle Parts And Ammo Found In Austin Dumpster
May 26, 2009 by national
Filed under Incident Reports
Assorted parts from assault rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition Tuesday were found stashed in a North Austin dumpster.
Austin police say someone noticed the weapons inside the dumpster outside the Contempo Apartments 5000 block of Swanee near Lamar and Airport Blvd. around 11:30 a.m.
Austin police officers and agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms pulled the upper receivers of eight assault rifles and box after box of ammunition. It took several hours to collect and inspect.
People who live on the dead-end street watched with worry.
“It’s so quiet out here you hardly ever think of anything like that,” said Richard Marquez.
Marquez has lived at a house a few yards from the dumpster for several decades. He watched in shock on Tuesday as agents wrapped the gun parts in white pieces of cloth and tucked them into the trunk of a patrol car.
“Who put it there? That’s the scary part. We still live here with our windows open and sit out here in the afternoon,” said Marquez.
Detectives don’t know who hid the weapons in the dumpster or why. Agents with the ATF say the upper receivers do not have serial numbers which makes them difficult to track.
“The neighborhood is a decent neighborhood. Everybody’s pretty friendly, but there are a few vagrants that come into the neighborhood,” said Jeremy Withrow.
