Armored car company apologizes, admits mistakes led to teen’s discovery of loaded gun
Honolulu HI June 4 2017 A security guard for an armored car company dropped a loaded gun while making a pickup at a shopping center, and didn’t realize it until much later.
A 16-year-old boy and his mother found the .38-caliber revolver in a grassy area of the parking lot at Kaneohe Shopping Center Wednesday afternoon.
The general manager of Security Armored Car Service of Hawaii confirmed that the gun was dropped by one of its guards while making a pickup.
Al Misajon admits that mistakes were made by waiting to report the incident, and says the company is looking at changes to make sure this does not happen again.
He says the safety on the guard’s holster must have been accidentally knocked off when he was picking up a bag, and the gun then fell out while the guard was getting in the van.
“As he was getting in, I guess when the door closed it fell on the ledge of the van, and when the van turned, it fell off the van. We thought there was a chance we could find it,” Misajon said.
The company says the shopping center was the last stop, and the guard didn’t realize that his gun was missing until he got back to the office.
“Unfortunately this time, the guard got busy with some paperwork and really didn’t realize that the gun was out of his holster,” Misajon said.
Guards are supposed to turn their guns in at the end of the shift.
Misajon says the guard wasn’t sure if he left it at another pickup site or in another van, because the crew had to switch vans earlier, which is why they waited until the next day to report it missing.
The company now says that should not have happened, and wants to make sure that any gun missing is immediately reported.
“If the guard notices that it’s missing, even though he thinks it might be somewhere else, he should notify the police right away. Is that what you’re looking at?” KHON2 asked Misajon.
“Yes, in hindsight, that’s what we’ll do,” he replied.
Misajon says the guard has been suspended indefinitely. The company apologized to the public and is grateful to the family who reported it to HPD.
“I’d really like to thank the family who found the weapon, and give them my heartfelt thank you that it was them,” Misajon said.
We’re asking HPD if any firearm rules were broken by not reporting the weapon missing until the next day and what the punishment would be. We’ll let you know when we find out.
khon2
