When Sean Murphy saw a loaded gun on Mount Si, he knew exactly what to do.
“[The gun was] lying in plain sight,” Murphy wrote to KIRO 7 in an email.
A bullet was in the chamber, he said.
“Any dozens of kids on the trail could have picked it up,” Murphy said. “Only the safety was preventing near tragedy.”
Murphy found the handgun on the Mount Si trail Friday. A woman accidentally dropped it at a rest stop while hiking with her boyfriend, the King County Sheriff's Office said.
With the help of a fellow hiker, Murphy secured the weapon and called 911.
“Together, we brought the gun down the mountain, where she turned it over to police,” Murphy said.
The woman reported the gun as missing later that night, the Sheriff's Office said.
Murphy hopes this serves as a reminder for gun owners to hand their weapons responsibly and a note to others that if you find a weapon, not to touch it.
“Call 911,” Murphy said. “If one of the dozens of teenagers on the trail today because of spring break had found it, they might have taken it home, and then it would be a different kind of story in the news.”
Cox Media Group
